Miller’s boys basketball team appeared to have just a moment of identity crisis against Blue Ridge. A pair of solid wins going into that matchup hadn’t gotten things completely on track.
The Mavericks may have found the complete solution Thursday night.
Miller picked up perhaps its biggest win of the season, beating No. 1-ranked Virginia Episcopal School 79-71 at home with an incredible balanced offensive effort from Miller’s starting five.
Chance Sheffey led the Mavericks with 23 points while Ron Alston came up with 20. Jaylin Reed checked in with 15 points, Matthew Sanchez had 10 points and Tyler Creammer finished with 11. The Mavericks went 17-for-25 at the free throw line.
The Mavericks gave up 26 points to McDonald’s All-American Sacha Killeya-Jones and 17 points to Kevin Quinn, but after building a six-point halftime lead Miller took care of business in the second half against the Bishops.
Orange girls rally to edge Louisa County
With a season high 30 points from Kiani Hudgens, Orange County’s girls basketball team held off Louisa County 55-50 Thursday night.
Hudgens scored 15 of her 30 in the final frame, helping Orange storm back from a six-point deficit at the end of three quarters. She went 6-for-10 at the free throw line in the fourth and hit a 3-pointer. No other Hornet had a field goal in the fourth.
Laine Harrington finished with eight points for the Hornets.
Louisa appeared set to pull off the upset with a 42-36 lead going into the fourth, but a 3-for-9 quarter at the free throw line and a lack of offense down the stretch did the Lions in. Anna Agee finished with 15 points to lead Louisa while Tyi Skinner chipped in 13.
Fork Union falls to Collegiate
Fork Union got about as close to a miracle as a team can get, nearly erasing a five-point deficit in 13 seconds against Collegiate Thursday night, but the Blue Devils came up barely short and lost 60-57 to the Cougars.
Down five after Collegiate’s Jed Londrey went 4-for-4 at the free throw line down the stretch, Fork Union’s Adisa Gittens-Smith scored with one second remaining and then stole the inbounds pass, but couldn’t convert a 3-pointer with no time left.
Fork Union’s Carl Trice led the Blue Devils with 17 points. He also finished with six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Gittens-Smith had 14 points and seven rebounds. While Josh Nevers finished with 10 rebounds and Detwon Shelton notched eight boards.
Evan Justice led Collegiate with 26 points.
