By Cody Elliott / Special to Scrimmageplaycva.com
Following a floater from Gaines Swink to give Madison County a one-point lead with 1:54 left in the game, Amelia County head coach Kevin Rather called timeout.
He had seen this before in a 2A East semifinal loss just nine days before to the Mountaineers that resulted in an overtime loss.
This time, the Raiders responded, getting a bucket on the ensuing possession and going 8-for-10 at the free throw line down the stretch to defeat Madison 61-55 in the Group 2A boys basketball semifinals at James Madison University on Saturday.
“They made more shots than we did,” said Madison County head coach Ben Breeden. “They hit free throws. They did a good job handling the ball late in the game. When you’re in the final four, that’s what it’s all about.”
Following Swink’s floater to give Madison the lead, DeQuante Meadows scored on the ensuing possession to put Amelia back on top.
The Mountaineers then missed their next two shots, while Amelia picked up three free throws from Jared Baker to extend the lead to four.
Madison cut the lead to a single possession two more times but Baker went 4-for-4 at the line in the final seconds, including two with 10.2 seconds remaining to clinch the victory for the Raiders.
“He’s a guy,” Rather said, “for most of the game, I would like the ball to be in his hands. He’s a playmaker. He’s our best three-point shooter. He’s our best free throw shooter. Whether we’re going to win or we’re going to lose, I want the ball in his hands.”
Early on, it was a back-and-forth affair but a couple of Swink threes carried the Mountaineers to 28-24 lead at the intermission.
Madison continued to control the game for much of the third but just as it looked like Amelia was letting the game slip away, the Raiders put together a 10-1 run to end the third and went into the fourth up 40-36.
“When we switched from man to zone,” Rather said, “it kind of slowed their penetration down a lot. We picked up on our rebounding and got out on the break. They seemed like they were a little winded so we got out on the break and ran on them and got some easy buckets.”
Isiah Smith scored on a drive to the hoop to start the fourth but the Raiders scored the next six straight, including four from Meadows to go up eight with just over six minutes remaining.
“I don’t know if we ran out of gas,” Breeden said. “We got good looks. We got a little passive. We stopped attacking the basket.”
The Mountaineers continued to fight, however, using a pair of putbacks from Dre Twyman and a couple of floaters from Smith to set up Swink’s go-ahead bucket.
Even when Madison was mounting a late comeback, Baker knew his team had to stay tuned it and that it would be okay.
“Just stay focused,” Baker said. “We’ve worked hard for the moment for a reason. We’re up here for a reason. … We gave the fans what they wanted to see.”
Meadows led Amelia with 17 points while Baker finished with 15 and eight boards. Jamal Grant was the only other double digit scorer with 12 while Brendan Stanford had 10 rebounds of his own.
For the Mountaineers, Swink finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Twyman had 12 points and 10 rebounds as well. Smith finished with 16 points and six assists.
With the victory, the Raiders advance to the 2A state championship game, where they will take on R.E. Lee who completed a wild comeback win over Dan River in the nightcap at JMU.
For Madison, its season ends with a 26-3 overall and as Conference 35 and Region 2A East champions.
“We are still the same team,” Smith said. “We’ve been the same team all year. I think the ball just didn’t fall our way this game.”
