After Fork Union took a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter thanks to back-to-back big plays from Chrystian Brown and then held the comfortable lead going into the last two minutes of play, it looked like the Blue Devils were set to walk away from St. Anne’s-Belfield with revenge exacted from an overtime loss to the Saints just a few weeks ago. Then Parker Morris started pulling up and launching 3-pointers and couldn’t miss. It wasn’t that FUMA was doing anything wrong defensively, or really anything wrong on the other side of the court as it tried to milk the clock and hit its free throws. Morris just wouldn’t relent though. Still, the Blue Devils didn’t panic and as such, they hung on for a critical Prep League victory on the road, 76-70, despite having to sweat for it down the stretch.
“(Our guys), they did a good job of controlling the ball and not panicking at the end,” said Fork Union coach Matt Donahue. “Morris was draining from half court so I was proud that they were able to hang in there. It shows a lot of character.”
FUMA lead for almost the entirety of the game with a tie at 10 late in the first quarter being the closest the game ever got from a scoreboard standpoint. The Blue Devils built a two-possesion lead in the second frame and were able to hang on to that all the way through the third quarter.
“It always feels good to play with the lead,” Brown said. “We didn’t play our best today, I think we could have pushed the lead out a little more but it’s just good to get a win, no matter how close it is.”
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Fork Union looked to be pulling away for good, with a 4-point lead getting extended heavily on a 9-0 run fueled by a 3-pointer from Brown and a layup just moments later.
“Thankfully Brown was hitting some shots,” Donahue said. “We said that we really had to push the ball to our wings, getting out and sharing the basketball.”
STAB was able to get within 7-points on multiple occasions, working inside with Aaron Stinnie and Jeff Jones and outside with Morris.
However, it wasn’t until FUMA was hit with a technical foul on a loose ball play late in the fourth that the Saints found some momentum. After that play and after the Blue Devils looked to wrap up the game with lengthy possessions and free throws, the only thing left for STAB was to let Morris go wild, and he did that, scoring 11 of his game high 30 points in the last two minutes on a trio of 3-pointers and a long field goal where his foot just was inside the arc.
“You’re a little more loose when you’re down,” said Saints coach Brian Kent. “He was able to knock down shots and we were able to execute and finally do what we wanted to do… but it was the five possessions early in the fourth quarter that killed us.”
Almost all of the shots were contested, one in particular, an off balance 3-pointer at the top of key couldn’t have been defended better. With Morris going off, STAB worked it down to a 3-point margin with just over a minute to play.
“We kept putting a hand in his face, that’s all we could really do,” said FUMA guard Quadariius Newkirk. “We had to put the hand in the face and hope he’d miss.”
The Blue Devils stuck with the plan though, hitting the free throws they needed in the last minute. Trailing by four inside of 15 seconds, STAB saw a pair of shots in the paint kick out that would have made it a 2-point game. Fork Union collected the rebound on the second miss and closed out the game just seconds later.
Newkirk led Fork Union offensively with 23 points on the afternoon. Brown chipped in 16, getting seven of them in the fourth quarter. Jalen Harris and Gerard Young both finished with seven points.
For STAB, Morris hit five 3-pointers on the night and got 18 of his 30 points in the final frame. Both Jeff Jones and Javin Delaurier had 10 points. Aaron Stinnie chipped in nine.
FUMA (9-6, 4-3) heads to Woodberry Forest at Tuesday 6 p.m.
St. Anne’s (4-9, 2-5) travels to Trinity Episcopal also on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
