VHSL CLASS 2 BOYS SEMIS: Radford wins over Gate City, 79-65
- Brian Woodson | Bristol Herald Courier
- Mar 5, 2019
DUBLIN, Va. - It was Zac in the third quarter. Q in the fourth.
Quinton Morton-Robertson answered Zac Ervin’s 20 third quarter points with 21 in the fourth, leading Radford to a 79-65 Class 2 state semifinal victory over Gate City at a packed Pulaski County High School on Tuesday night.
“Nothing can describe it, this is what you look forward to your freshmen year just like every little kid in the stands,” Morton-Robertson said. “Everyone looks forward to a state championship. I think we are all just proud to be here.”
Radford (29-0) will play East Rockingham in search of its seventh overall title and third in the last four years on Saturday at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center in Richmond.
The one title Morton-Robertson and the Bobcats didn’t win came last season when Gate City beat them in the semifinals and went on to claim the crown for themselves.
“Just that loss last year, it just got to us,” said Morton-Robertson, who finished with 42 points, including five 3s and 19 for 20 from the free throw line. “We didn’t want to end our season early. We knew this year that we wanted to get the job done, not only get to the state championship, but at least win it potentially.
“We know we have a tough opponent ahead of us, East Rockingham is a very good team.”
Gate City (25-4) was led by Ervin, who finished with 35 points, including eight 3s, scoring 27 of the Blue Devils’ 35 second half points. Bradley Dean added 19 points, including 10 in the first quarter and 13 at the half.
“I know we have got a heck of an opponent in front of us I have heard, but I knew not to look past this one,” Radford head coach Rick Cormany said. “I am going to tell you. This game scared me to death. They run so many nice, quick hitter things for those two guys. We are just fortunate to get out of it. It was just two great teams going at it.”
Gate City started fast, making 7-of-8 shots to begin the game, taking a 17-10 lead before the Bobcats asserted themselves inside, led by 6-foot-6 Miles Jones, who dominated against the smaller Blue Devils, scoring 13 points in the game, including 11 in the opening half.
Jon Woods and Thor Sproule combined for five points, but helped the Bobcats control the boards, a point of emphasis for a squad that struggled in that area in last year’s loss to the Blue Devils.
“I was proud of our guys on the glass. We lost last year and Gate City just beat us to death on the glass,” Cormany said. “It wasn’t even close and we went into the offseason thinking, we have got big guys, it doesn’t matter if they are great scorers or not. They can keep balls alive and that has been an emphasis since the loss last year.”
Radford used a 15-1 run to build a 34-22 lead before settling for a 36-30 advantage at the break. Cormany’s son, Cam, added 14 points, including a trio of first half 3s.
“They went on that run in the first half. Miles Jones took that thing to the interior and scored on us and got rebound after rebound. He was a big factor, and then their other two big guys came in and got a lot of rebounds,” Vermillion said. “That was key, and then Cormany hitting the 3s. We lost him a couple of times and he canned them both.”
It was the Ervin show after the break, with the Wofford signee connecting from anywhere he seemingly pleased, scoring all 20 of the Blue Devils third quarter points, eventually pulling the Gate City even at 44-44 and then giving them leads of 47-44 and 50-47, but Morton-Robertson continued to have an answer.
“You can’t describe how hot he was. The rim was probably like an ocean to him, he just wasn’t missing any shots,” said Morton-Robertson, who will join Jones next season with the Radford University program. “My teammates didn’t want to lose this game, I didn’t want to lose this game so I just shot it and hopefully it would go in. If I didn’t I knew Jon Woods or Thor Sproule were going to get the rebound.”
That is what happened, with Morton-Robertson answering with a 3 of his own to tie the score at 47, and added a drive to the hoop and another 3 at the buzzer to put the Bobcats up 54-50 going to the final period.
“Q came down after we hit that 3 to go up and he hit that 3 to tie it right back up. You have got great players going back and forth,” Vermillion said. “That is the game of basketball sometimes.
“We have won a few of those battles. They won this one. Hats off to coach. My goodness, he is the wizard, he knows what he is doing.”
Morton-Robertson took over that there, following up an Ervin offensive putback that cut the deficit to 59-54 by driving to the basket for two points and followed a shot by Cormany with another 3 to build the margin to 66-54.
I am proud of my guys, but I am also hurting for Zac Ervin and those guys because every time I thought we had a chance to get away from them, we couldn’t get away from them,” Cormany said. “They gave us a heck of a shot at it. I told our guys, champions don’t go down easy. You just need to understand that.
“I think maybe toward the end Zac finally, finally got a little tired. I don’t know that for sure.”
Gate City never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, with Morton-Robertson nearly perfect from the line. The Bobcats were 23 for 25 from the charity stripe, while the Blue Devils were 7 for 8, with Ervin hitting all four his attempts. Both teams finished with eight 3s apiece.
“They made big plays. We made big plays too. I thought both teams made some plays,” Vermillion said. “They made one or two more than us and when you get up 5 or 6 at the end of a game like that it is just hard to get back because of guard play. Morton-Robertson is really good.”
Ervin and Dean, who was held to six points after the break, combined to score 54 of the Blue Devils’ 65 points.
“It is a big game, a lot of people come to watch and it is kids playing. We get excited, everybody wants to win,” Vermillion said. “I thought we got beat by a great team. It wasn’t like we laid an egg.
“Last year I thought the same thing for them. We were really good last year and we were really good this year. We could have won that game if some things happened, but great team, great program, two of them.”
While Radford will play on, Gate City calls it a season, with four seniors moving on, including Ervin, who finished his career with nearly 2,400 points, and capped it off with possibly one of the best games of his life.
“Unbelieveable. I will tell you, this group of seniors have probably won 100 games, four state tournaments, three final fours and a state title,” said Vermillion, whose Blue Devils fell to 5-5 in state semifinal games. “They have played in some of the biggest environments, some of the biggest crowds.
“It has just been awesome for them.”
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Gate City boys win first-ever state title; McClung smashes VHSL career mark
- Tim Hayes | Bristol Herald Courier
- Mar 9, 2018
RICHMOND, Va. – Mac McClung is the state’s scoring king and the Gate City Blue Devils are the rulers of Class 2 boys basketball.
McClung tossed in 47 points and became the Virginia High School League’s career scoring leader as Gate City claimed the first state title in program history with an 80-65 victory over Robert E. Lee of Staunton on Friday night in the state finals at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center.
It was a history-making evening in what was a history-making season for the Scott County crew.
The 6-foot-2 McClung finished with 1,153 points over the course of the 2017-18 season and 2,801 career points for his four-year career, both VHSL records.
His 47 points on Friday also broke J.J. Redick’s single-game state finals record of 43 points established in 2002.
A reverse jam with 25 seconds remaining proved to be the final points of McClung’s high school career and put a fitting exclamation point on a magical season.
It started on a November night in Mountain City, Tennessee, when McClung put up 52 points in a preseason victory over TSSAA power Science Hill.
The Blue Devils became the rock stars of roundball and played to packed houses every single night.
Viking Hall in Bristol overflowed in December at the prestigious Arby’s Classic as folks wanted to catch a glimpse of Mac.
The David J. Prior Convocation Center on the campus of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise hadn’t seen the crowds that gathered to watch McClung in its prior years of operation.
Radford University’s Dedmon Center was sold out for a state quarterfinal game.
Northeast Tennessee, the New River Valley and the coalfields of Southwest Virginia became gripped by Mac Mania.
Social media star gazers and dunk documentarians filmed his every move and the total number of autographs he signed might have surpassed his point total.
The Washington Post profiled him.
ESPN aired some of his gravity-defying jams.
Through it all, McClung never wavered in his ultimate goal of giving head coach Scott Vermillion a state title and bringing the gold back to Gate City.
The season ended in the state capital with a state crown and Patrick Ewing, his coach next year at Georgetown University, was among the onlookers.
Mission accomplished.
“This state championship is more than a state championship to this program,” McClung said. “We feel like we’ve been through so much as a program and this is for all the guys before us and all the guys coming up. For Coach Vermillion, he deserves it. … It was such an up-and-down journey.”
One stop on that journey that changed everything came Feb. 24 when Gate City suffered a 75-59 setback to Graham in the Region 2D title game.
“Hindsight looking back, it may have won us a state title to be honest with you,” Vermillion said. “We went to work and the guys really started to focus on the little things defensively and getting better shots. That loss was big. It’s like in life when things don’t go your way you learn from it and hope the next time it comes around better.”
An opportunity came around on Friday and Gate City seized it.
The Blue Devils shot 61.7 percent from the field and dished out 14 assists on 29 field goal makes. Zac Ervin added 26 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Bradley Dean hauled down 10 rebounds.
McClung had 16 points in the first quarter, tying Caleb Tanner’s career scoring mark of 2,770 points set in 2014.
He broke the record on a free throw with 7:08 remaining in the second quarter, but his best plays were yet to come.
Throwing down two alley-oops from Dean, one over Isaiah Elliston.
A block of 6-foot-8 Jarvis Vaughan, an Old Dominion University signee, was also impressive and made the crowd at VCU erupt.
“If you know me you wouldn’t be surprised I’d challenge him,” McClung said.
McClung was 15-for-21 from the field (1-for-3 from 3-point range) and 16-for-19 from the free-throw line. He also had five assists, three rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
“He’s a high-caliber guy and he’s going to Georgetown for a reason,” said Lee coach Terrell Mickens. “He scored a lot of his points from the free-throw line tonight and he’s a pretty good free-throw shooter. I told my guys we had to keep him off the line. We didn’t do a very good job of that. Hats off to Mac.”
Gate City led 39-29 at halftime and then pulled away in the second half to help McClung make a dream come true.
“It’s kind of a sense that you’ve completed what you set out to do,” McClung said. “Me and Zac used to do everything together and we played AAU basketball together. All we wanted to do was win a state title; we weren’t worried about college ball.
“It was my seventh- or eighth-grade year and [Gate City] had just lost [in the state finals to Radford] and it was risky for me to say it, but I saw [Vermillion] in the hallway, and I said coach we’re going to win a state title. I don’t know if he remembers.”
“I absolutely do,” Vermillion added.
It was the 400th career victory for Vermillion, who had lost three times before in the state finals in the same VCU venue.
The feeling was different this time as readied to make the trip back home and he was relishing the moment.
Now, the record-breaking, rim-rattling phenom known as Mac McClung is ready for the world of NCAA Division I basketball.
He’ll be suiting up for the Hoyas in 2018-19 and competing in the Big East Conference, a season removed from becoming a state champion and a Southwest Virginia legend.
“Every wall that somebody’s put in front of him he’s tore down,” Vermillion said. “So keep putting up walls and just keep saying he can’t do this, can’t do this and just watch the next couple of years. He’s a special kind of kid.”
Vermillion paused for a moment, before his smile grew bigger and he added something else about his star player.
“He’s not a kid anymore,” the coach said. “He’s a man and we saw that tonight.”
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Blue Devils drop OT heartbreaker in 2A quarterfinals
ZEKE NEWTON, TriCitiesSports.com • Mar 4, 2017 at 1:07 AM
HARRISONBURG, Va. — A fantastic season came to a heartbreaking halt for Gate City on Friday night.
The Blue Devils suffered an 81-74 overtime loss to Robert E. Lee in the VHSL Group 2A boys basketball quarterfinals at James Madison’s Convocation Center.
The game, hyped as a showdown involving Division I prospects Mac McClung and Zac Ervin of Gate City and the Fighting Leemen’s Darius George, didn’t disappoint. But it was Lee’s Tyrese Haliburton who stole the show late.
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After a slow start to the game, Gate City (23-5) held a 26-25 lead at halftime, but Lee (23-5) embarked on a 19-10 run at the beginning of the third quarter to jump out to an eight-point lead. The teams competed through a seesaw fourth quarter, but when Jayden Williams hit a pair of free throws for the Leemen with 1:29 to play, the Blue Devils faced a seemingly insurmountable seven- point deficit.
That was when Gate City senior Hunter Collier took over. The Blue Devils captain scored six points in a 40-second span to pull his team to within 65-63.
The teams then traded buckets before Lee’s Jaheel Pettiford made just one of his two free-throw attempts, opening a window for Gate City.
McClung followed by splitting the defense and being fouled by George, a fifth that sent the senior to the bench. McClung knocked down both shots to cut the deficit to one with 19 seconds to play.
Following another 1-for-2 trip by Lee at the line, McClung drew another foul with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. Again he was up to the task, and his two makes tied the game at 69.
“These guys never quit,” said Gate City coach Scott Vermillion. “We forced a couple of turnovers, got a couple rebounds. Then they missed a couple free throws, and we got to the hole.”
Lee couldn’t get off a shot in the final 10 seconds, forcing the extra period minus star George.
“Honestly, I thought that (George fouling out) would be a difference,” Vermillion noted. “If we could have gotten a two-possession lead, maybe we could spread the floor a little bit. But we couldn’t.”
OT belonged to Haliburton. The forward canned a 3-pointer from the wing with three minutes to play, putting Lee up 72-71. With the score tied at 74 and 90 seconds left, Haliburton nailed a jumper and the Leemen didn’t trail again.
Lee scored the game’s final seven points to secure a spot in tonight’s 2A semifinal against Dan River.
“It’s a game we could have very easily lost in overtime or in regulation,” Lee coach Jarrett Hatcher said. “Gate City is a tremendous team and 0 (McClung) and 23 (Ervin) are outstanding and they’re well coached. We’re very happy to be moving on.”
The Leemen had five players in double figures, led by Jarius Vaughan’s 24 points and George’s 15.
“You have to give props to Robert E. Lee,” McClung said. “They hit some big shots early and it was hard to come back, but we kept fighting and came back. But every little thing mattered tonight and we just messed up on some little things.”
McClung finished with a game-high 29 points. Ervin added 25 and Collier had 14.
“I’m really proud of my guys,” Vermillion said. “I thought Hunter Collier played his butt off tonight. He’s 6-foot-2 and playing in the land of giants and got his share of rebounds.
“Hats off to Robert E. Lee,” he added. “Those guys kept fighting the whole game.”
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Blue Devils To Battle Pulaski In State Meet
By KEN ROBISON Times-News Sports Writer
MARCH 4, 1971
GATE CITY - Blacksburg, Virginia is a long bus ride, about 150 miles from Gate City. John Vicars would like to stay for more than one day. Vicars' Gate City basketballers travel that long road Friday to take on Pulaski in the first round of the Virginia State AA Basketball Tournament on the Virginia Tech campus Friday night. It won't be easy. Pulaski is undefeated through 21 games, and boasts a two-man scoring duo that averages over 42 points per contest. But then, things haven't come easy for the Blue Devils all season long. Hampered by injuries and illness all year, the 'Devils have emerged well. They finished second in the Southwest District, then won a right to play in Blacksburg by taking the Championship of the District Tournament, defeating Marion in the finals Saturday night. "We're getting better all the time," Vicars said yesterday. "We hope to hit our peak Friday." The Blue Devils are hot right now. They beat Virginia High easily Friday night then topped a taller Marion team for the title, shooting better than 50per cent in both games. "We played as well, it not better against Marion than we did against Virginia High," Vicars said. The 'Devils shot 53 per cent, and outrebounded the Hurricanes by a 42-35 margin. Phil Rogers, the Junior half of the brother combination, made his first six shots of the game. Frank Castle the 6-2 center, had 12 rebounds. · ' Pulaski boasts impressive credentials. Dennis Shewsberry, a 6-5 beanpole, averaged 24.6 points per game, among the leaders in the state, and 6-2 Jerry Campbell added 18 points per contest. Add to this pair hustling playmaker Rusty Adams and you have a team that has been rated either first or second in the state's AA Division most of the season. But after those three, the Pulaski talent gets thin. This is where the 'Devils have the edge. Far from being a one, two or even three man learn, Gate City boasts a balanced attack with all five starters scoring in double figures. Harold Willis leads with 22 points a game, Stan Rogers averages 15, Castle 12, sophomore Dave Kiner 11 and Phil Rogers ten. And the Blue Devils are all well, physically, a situation not exactly common this year. Through the season: Castle missed eight games with a foot injury, senior forward Huey Ervin missed six of seven games with the flu and a bad knee. Reserve center Mike Wolte, who took over in Castle's absence, missed some games lumself with a strep throat, and Joel McDavid and Pat Loggpns have both missed contests because ot injuries. Gate City's team this year boasts something no other 'Devil team could ever claim -- two l.OOfr-point scorers in the same squad. Willis hit the magic mark in the middle of the season, and Stan Rogers did it in the tourney finals against Marion. The only other players in GC history to pull the trick are Kenny Ervin, now Rye Cove coach, Walter Carter and current Virginia Tech player Darwin Pippin. This is Vicars' sixth season as head basketball coach at Gate City, and his third trip to the state playoffs. But none of the players on this year's team have ever madfe the state playoff route. The last time a 'Devil team went to the state was three years ago, though Gate City has come close the past two seasons. Two years ago, when only one team from the Lonesome Pine District went, the Blue Devils won the tournament but lost in a playoff to regular-season champ Haysi. Last year the 'Devils lost in the tourney finals to Pound in overtime. The arena at Blacksburg Is a Dome, a larger version of the type Central and Dobyns-Bennett play on. Pulaski played its District Tourney there, but the 'Devils have not played in such a structure this season, so Vicars had his forces working out at Central the other day. "They were all going over to the right hash mark, 33 feet away, and trying that shot that Dan Moody used to beat Dobyns- Bennett last Friday," Vicars admitted. ft would be ironic indeed if that shot spelled doom for a Gate City foe in Blacksburg (his weekend.
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Surry Moves On To State Final
March 11, 2005|By DARRYL SLATER, dslater@dailypress.com | 247-4641
RICHMOND — The Cougars' balanced scoring defeats Gate City, returning Surry to the title game for the first time since 1997.
Joe Ellis will admit this much: The Surry County boys basketball team that he coached in the 1997 Group A state final had more talent than his current players.
But these Cougars have five starters who play well together. All five average double-figures scoring, and four of them scored in double figures Thursday as Surry beat Gate City 68-55 in a Group A semifinal at the Siegel Center.
Surry will face Twin Springs in the final at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Siegel Center. Ellis was certain the Cougars would win in '97, the last time they were in the final, but they lost by three points to Floyd County.
The Cougars (25-4) will increase their chances for their first state title if they get balanced scoring like they did on Thursday. Guard Jackie Simmons led Surry with 18 points, center Edward Barham had 16, guard Mario Newby Jr. had 12, and forward Jack Johnson scored 10.
Barham, Surry's 6-foot-5, 246-pound leading scorer, had hoped to exploit the Blue Devils lack of size.
Though Surry faced mostly zone defenses this season, Barham has enjoyed playing against man-to-man defenses in the regional and state playoffs. He showed why in the first half, scoring 12 of Surry's 31 points as 6-foot-1 forward Will Humphreys guarded him one-on-one.
"(Barham) was a little bit better than I thought he was, just being able to turn on a guy and shoot," Gate City coach Scott Vermillion said. "He was the best post player we've played all year."
Gate City (22-6) double-teamed Barham in the second half, holding him to four points. But as Barham faced some of the most physical defense he's seen this season, Newby took over, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half.
Surry led 48-42 when Barham picked up his fourth foul with 6 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game. Ellis benched Barham, and the Blue Devils closed the gap to 48-47 before Barham re-entered with 4:49 left.
"I tried to hold him out no more than a minute and a half," Ellis said.
"When he's not in, we really miss his presence."
Gate City mounted a late comeback, as guard Jesse McMurray hit a 3- pointer with three minutes left to trim Surry's lead to 55-53.
McMurray finished with eight 3s, tying J.J. Redick's all-group state tournament game record.
But Surry made 13 of its 14 free throws after that, and Gate City scored just two points -- both on free throws -- as the Cougars pulled away.
After the game, the Cougars returned to a local Sheraton hotel, where they spent Thursday night.
Ellis had hoped to find a local gym today to hold a light practice, after which the Cougars will watch some Group AA state semifinals at the Siegel Center.
Though Ellis might not be as certain about a state title this time around, he must feel encouraged by the depth Surry displayed on Thursday.
"If we play our game," he said, "I don't feel like we'll have any problems." *
SURRY COUNTY 68, GATE CITY 55
SURRY COUNTY (25-4): Johnson 10, Frazier 3, Barham 16, Simmons 18, Newby 12, Pierce 0, Behtea 0, Wells 7, Palmer 2, Porter 0, Warren 0. Totals 23 20-24 68.
GATE CITY (22-6): Estepp 2, W. Humphreys 4, McMurray 29, Clark 8, Kilgore 1, Bateman 0, Rogers 0, Parks 0, Hackney 11, L. Humphreys 0. Totals 16 13-20 55.
Surry County 12 19 15 22--68
Gate City 16 8 18 13--55
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PREP BASKETBALL: Gate City continues to rule Clinch Mountain
Allen Gregory | Updated Dec 20, 2012
It was loud. It was intense. It was a typical night in basketball-hungry Scott County. Before another overflow crowd at Gate City Middle School, the Blue Devils won their ninth straight district tournament championship late Saturday night with a 72-58 win over the Virginia High Bearcats. The Clinch Mountain District title game did not start until 8:38 p.m. due to a third-place game that was slowed by 58 foul shots.
VHS (16-8) actually grabbed a 14-8 lead late in the first quarter thanks to three 3-pointers.
With the Bearcat triangle-and-two defense focusing on GC headliners Luke Ervin and Austen Arnold, the Blue Devils answered with their own barrage of 3s. Savvy guard Nick Bowen emerged as the hero for GC, taking advantage of his extra space to score a season-high 17 points.
“Virginia High came out guarding our big men, so us little guys had to make some plays,” Bowen said. “I had some opportunities and tried to take advantage.”
Gate City took an 18-15 advantage with 1:56 left in the opening quarter and then gradually expanded its margin.
“We had a little different game plan, so we were giving up some shots,” VHS coach Wayne Rasnick said. “We had a pretty good start. It just didn’t work out for us.”
The last game between VHS and Gate City was marred by several incidents between the cheering sections. There was extra security for Saturday’s game. But except for a couple of skirmishes, the fans remained under control.
Perhaps only Twin Springs, also located in Scott County, can match GC in terms of fan support.
While Arnold weaved the through the VHS defense for 23 points, the shooting, passing and defense of Bowen was vital.
“It gets pretty crazy in here, but we like it,” Bowen said. “It’s always a dogfight with these two teams, and we played our game.”
GC coach Scott Vermillion was proud of his team responded to the early deficit.
“With the home crowd and with four quarters, I didn’t get too nervous,” Vermillion said. “We kept hammering away and hit a couple of big 3s.”
The Blue Devils (21-3) finished with seven 3-pointers. Ervin scored just eight points.
“We knew Virginia High was going to guard the heck out of Luke and shadow Austen everywhere he went,” Vermillion said. “We told our guys that somebody had to make a play, and Nick made several plays.”
Matt Kerlee paced VHS with 17 points and Nick Howard added 11.
Austen Arnold and Andy Arnold both rewarded the rabid GC fans with two-handed dunks in the second half.
Gate City also won the junior varsity title with a 43-38 decision over Virginia High.
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