Blue Ridge boys basketball team’s offense has been referred to by coaches and players alike as a bit of a work in progress as the Barons have put a huge early season emphasis on developing their man-to-man defense.
That work-in-progress status surfaced again Thursday night against Virginia Episcopal as VES threw a matchup zone at the Barons that allowed the Bishops to build an early lead and hold on for a 63-55 win.
“I’ve played against Blue Ridge the last five years and I kind of know how they play and I figured this would be a way to be in rebounding position,” said VES coach Curtis Staples. “Mamadi (Diakite) is such a quick jumper you’ve got to have guys around him, you can’t let him roam. Also, we don’t go that deep, so I didn’t want to get into foul trouble with Sacha (Killeya-Jones) or any of our bigs down low. It worked out both ways.”
That stout defense along with Delonte Jones and Justice Kithcart scoring 10 each in the first half helped push the Bishops to a 29-19 halftime lead.
“We didn’t handle the zone well at all,” said Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey. “I thought we made some good halftime adjustments. We had certainly prepared for it but we were hesitant about what shots we wanted and we didn’t move the ball quickly enough and you’ve got to give credit to them, they made some tough shots.”
Blue Ridge rallied, eventually tying the game at 51-51 on a Scott Spencer jumper with under three minutes to play and with the Barons’ crowd behind them, momentum seemed to have swung hard in Blue Ridge’s favor. Malik Johnson in particular sparked the Barons during the fourth, hitting three fourth quarter 3-pointers and an impossible bucket in the lane en route to a team-high 16 points on the night.
“Game in and game out so far Malik has put us on his back,” Ramsey said. “He’s a tough nut, he plays real hard.”
Virginia Episcopal refused to go away though, and with 1:31 left to play, Kevin Quinn buried a 3-pointer that extended the VES lead to four points at 55-51. From there on the Barons couldn’t scratch much closer, missing with a chance to tie at 55-55 after Johnson’s big play in the lane. On the rebound, a spectacular Spencer save near the baseline found its way into a VES player’s hands and from there the Barons were forced to foul.
Jones finished with 17 points to lead VES while Woodberry Forest transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones finished with 10 for the Bishops. Killeya-Jones was stout defensively in the middle of the zone, and the Bishops managed to hold Blue Ridge big men Mamadie Diakite and Aamir Sims to eight points between them.
“(Killeya-Jones) bought into what we want to do here,” Staples said. “We put about 15 pounds of muscle on him and he’s working extremely hard to get better. He’s got a great attitude and he’s a great kid so he’s going to continue to get better.”
Blue Ridge will jump back onto the floor against Woodberry Forest next week while Virginia Episcopal gets a break before playing in a holiday tournament December 27. The two squads will meet again January 20 in Lynchburg.
