High school basketball
Patrick HiteStaunton News Leader
STAUNTON —Durrell Hamilton scored a game-high 29 points as Staunton beat Heritage (Lynchburg) 72-51 Friday night in the Region 3C boys basketball quarterfinals.
"It means a lot," Hamilton said. "With me being a senior, it was either win or go home so it really meant a lot. We get another game out of this."
That won't be an easy game. Staunton will be on the road Tuesday in the regional semifinals against unbeaten and No. 1 seed Spotswood. The Trailblazers are 25-0 after beating Wilson Memorial 92-49 Friday. According to an email from Region 3C Friday night, the game will start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Staunton has won 12 games in a row to improve to 17-6 this season. The Storm's last loss came Jan. 10 by three to this same Heritage team. Staunton had already lost to Heritage earlier in the season, but those two losses were all but forgotten on Friday.
"I'm not gonna lie," Hamilton said. "I kind of played bad the first two games, but that drove me to play harder."
Staunton fell behind in the early minutes of the game, but Manny Chapman's bucket with 2:45 left in the first quarter put Staunton up 10-8, a lead it would never relinquish. Staunton stretched the lead to 13 on a Ky'Ree Scott 3 with less than three minutes left in the first half.
Heritage went on a mini-run to cut its deficit to four when Morgan Miller hit a floater with 4:55 left in the third quarter. Staunton's offense hit a dry spell for nearly six minutes spanning the second and third quarters, missing seven shots and turning the ball over five times.
But Joaquin Bell came off the bench to spark the Storm, burying a 3-pointer at the 4:33 mark, starting a 15-3 run to end the quarter with Staunton up 16.
"Yeah, J-Buckets, we're going to have to call him big time J-Buckets because we know he's ready for the big time," Staunton coach Terrell Mickens said of Bell, who finished with 10 points, all in the second half. "I just love that boy."
Hamilton took over from there, scoring nine of Staunton's points in that third-quarter run. A lot of his points came on drives to the bucket. He said he just saw open lanes and took advantage of them. That's what his coach wanted.
"When Durrell gets going we know he's liable to go off," Mickens said. "I think he had 29. That's tough. Can't coach that. He's a great kid."
Bell hit two more baskets, including a 3, to start the fourth and Marc Geffrard added a layup on a full-court pass from Jack Jones to put Staunton up 54-31. The Staunton defense held Heritage without a field goal for more than eight minutes in that span.
"I knew we were locked in before the game," Mickens said. "We knew the defense was going to be the biggest part of this game. I thought we did a great job of playing help defense and not letting their bigs get us in the paint."
In addition to Hamilton and Bell, Chapman also finished in double figures with 12 points.
While it won't be easy, Staunton has a chance Tuesday to pull the upset and advance to the state tournament with a win over Spotswood.
"This means a lot," Mickens said. "I'm happy for these kids. They've put in a lot of hard work all offseason, all season long. We get four more quarters."
OTHER SCORES
Wilson Memorial's boys and girls ended their seasons with regional losses Friday. The Wilson boys fell to No. 1 seed Spotswood 92-49, while the girls lost to top seed Liberty Christian Academy 77-29.
In other Region 3C boys basketball, No. 2. Western Albemarle beat Alleghany 79-34, while No. 3 Rustburg beat Broadway 95-84.
In Region 3C girls basketball. No. 4 Western Albemarle beat Broadway 48-33, No. 2 Turner Ashby beat East Rockingham 49-33 and No. 3 Spotswood beat Alleghany 42-28.
All the Region 3C semifinal games are Tuesday at the higher seed.
In the VACA North regionals, Grace Christian beat Regents 42-29 in girls basketball Friday. Lucy Wells led the Warriors with 13 points, while Maddie Harper added 11 points in the win.
Grace plays Blue Ridge Christian for the north regional championship Saturday, 2 p.m. at Ridgeview Christian in Stuarts Draft.
More: Seaton highlights costs of Augusta County supervisors FOIA lawsuit, attempts to stop appeal
More: Travis Brown sentenced to life in prison for Staunton toddler's slaying
—Patrick Hite is The News Leader's educationreporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) atphite@newsleader.comand follow himon Twitter@Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to usatnewsleader.com.
