A Blue Ridge and Miller matchup usually comes down to who blinks first.
With two stacked rosters, the team that makes the first mistake or set of mistakes almost always comes out on the short end of the stick.
Miller blinked first Tuesday.
After that, even a startling, furious run to close the game couldn’t save the Mavericks from a 64-63 defeat. The win gave Blue Ridge the top spot in the VIC tournament and the regular season conference title.
The Mavericks committed a string of turnovers during the second quarter with some timely, improvised trapping out of the Barons’ man-to-man setup. Those mistakes allowed the Barons to build a 8-point lead by halftime.
“They showed us a lot of different looks and I thought we did a great job (responding),” said Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey, who earned his 300th career victory with the win. “If we make free throws I think we walk out of here and I don’t have a heart attack.”
The Barons took it to Miller on the defensive end, and the Mavericks struggled to take care of the ball against the Blue Ridge pressure, finishing with 16 total turnovers, 10 of them before the break.
“(Our defense) was very effective today,” said Blue Ridge guard Darryl Smith. “We worked on getting back on defense a lot in practice because Miller is such a good shooting team — we’ve got to do that.”
The Mavericks mounted a comeback though with solid play in transition and because the Barons went a dismal 13-for-30 on the night from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Miller nearly took full advantage of the opening, with Devon Anderson burying a 3-pointer with just under 10 seconds to play, cutting the Blue Ridge lead to 64-63. After two final misses at the line by the Barons, Miller raced down court and found Andrew White for a tough short jumper near the baseline. White’s attempt rimmed out, allowing Blue Ridge to escape.
“There were two unselfish plays to get to the open shot at the end of the game, no matter who it is,” said Miller coach Scott Willard. “And we missed an open shot and that’s a tough way to lose but I’m proud of the way my guys fought back.”
White finished with 26 points to lead all scorers and flushed a handful of highlight-reel dunks. But the Mavericks couldn’t overcome the second quarter lull.
Blue Ridge got balanced, consistent scoring out of big man Paris Maragkos, slasher Ahmad Fields and Jarod Williams. Maragkos finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots in a monster game. Williams checked in with 15 points and nine assists and Fields logged 16 points and 10 boards. Smith dished out nine assists.
But it was the defensive intensity change that made the difference
“We’ve had several games in a row where we haven’t played hard, it’s as simple as that,” Ramsey said. “Today I thought we played as hard as we could play and we came out of here with a win.”
The loss forces Miller to head back to Virginia Episcopal for a third showdown with the Bishops in next week’s VIC tournament while the Barons will host Liberty Christian. The VIC title game will be at VES as well.
Before that, Miller faces Liberty Christian Thursday before taking on a talented Bishop O’Connell team in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Blue Ridge takes on St. Anne’s-Belfield Wednesday.
