Not until the final two minutes of play was Blue Ridge able to put the lid on it. Every time the Barons rolled out to a comfortable lead, Woodberry Forest — playing behind its amped up crowd — had James Long or Marshall Deal pull up and knock down a big shot to spark a comeback. And while the Tigers were able to cut the deficit from 13 at the start the fourth to as a little as six, whenever Blue Ridge needed a point or rebound, it got it from Ahmad Fields or Darryl Smith. As such, the Barons were tested on Tuesday on the road, but did all that they needed to in order to survive and pick up a 68-57 victory.
“Those two kids are so strong and so athletic and they really get it — they know how to go out and win games,” said Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey. “These guys are all pretty new playing together. From a week and half, the amount of progress we’ve made is really good see. We made a lot passes and had a lot of assists. I’m proud of that.”
The back and forth flow of the first quarter turned out to be a sign of things to come, but in the second and third quarter the Barons built up and maintained a double-digit lead almost all the way through those two quarters. The game got interesting quick in the fourth quarter though.
Despite being heavily defended, both Long and Deal found ways to nail 3-pointers to get the lead down to six midway through the final frame. But throughout the fourth, the Tigers could not find a way to bottle up Fields and the junior was lights out at the free throw line as well, both of which were enough to keep his team’s head above water.
“I was just glad to be able to get through that 1-3-1 (defense),” Fields said. “I had my teammates behind me the whole way and when it came to free throws it was just about focus. We’ve been working on them all summer.”
In the final two minutes Smith also added a late bucket and a trio of free throws. However, even more impressive was the junior guard’s three timely rebounds he hauled in during the last 120 seconds.
With Woodberry unable to foul their way back into the contest, Blue Ridge reclaimed it’s double-digit lead with 1:07 to play and wrapped up the win shortly there after.
“I was happy with the way we competed and thought this was a tremendous test for our big guys and they didn’t back down,” said Tigers coach Joel Justus. “So this is what we wanted to see — improve from game-to-game and guys competing out there. We’re trying to win a Prep League title and that doesn’t happen in December. We saw improvement (from our first game) on Friday night,”
Fields led all scorers with 27 points and also finished with eight rebounds. Before Fields took over in the fourth, it was Jarod Williams pacing the way scoring in the first half for the Barons. Williams finished with 15 on the night also collected six rebounds. Smith added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Andre Roberts provided the perimeter threat for his team as he hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc and finished with 8 points to go along with his trio assists.
Deal’s five 3-pointers fueld a 17 point game as he led the Tigers. Long hit a trio of three’s as well and finished with 15 points. Forward Kevin Chuisseu had nine points and eight rebounds, just missing out on a double-double.
Both Blue Ridge (2-1) and Woodberry (0-2) head to play in the Life Breath Tournament at Wakefield on Friday and Saturday.
