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Inching closer: Madison takes down Page, sits one win away from state tournament

Photo: John Berry

The crunch is real. The tension is officially here again. Getting to this point last year was a big deal for Madison County. Now, with a 77-59 win over Page County where the Mountaineers were diverse and dominant in the second half of the Region 2A East quarterfinals, they get that coveted chance to play for a state tournament bid come Tuesday. But it wasn’t without an early scare before locking things down defensively in the second.

 

“I thought our guys did a good job on putting more pressure on Page defensively on the perimeter in the second half because they were just catching the ball with too much space,” said Mountaineer coach Ben Breeden. “In the first half Page found the open man, hit their shots and hit their free throws, they just made it tough.”

 

While the second half belonged to Madison, the first was a strange back-and-forth. Madison raced out to a 13-4 lead but just as quickly, Page caught up with Joel McKay pouring in 14-first quarter points and making it a 24-21 contest going into the second. The Mountaineers and Panthers pawed at each other for much of the second quarter and the break-neck speed of the first went out the window. After Page knotted things up at 27-27 earling the second, Madison claimed a 32-27 lead midway through the frame with Gaines Swink getting warm. And then for good measure Kobi Alexander connected on a running floater of a three pointer at the buzzer to give the Mountaineers a more comfortable 39-32 lead going into the break.

 

When Dre Twyman picked up his third foul on the opening possession of the third quarter, the Mountaineers appeared to be in trouble as he and Lewis split time guarding McKay and trying to keep him in check. But with Alexander and Jamar Turner holding things down in the paint and Lewis and Isaiah Breckenridge rising to the occasion to defend McKay — who had 11 points over the final three frames — for the bulk of the second half, Madison saw things just magically work themselves out.

 

“I thought Elijah and Isaiah, between those two, we did a good job of containing him,” Breeden said.

 

Of course, on the other end of the floor, as has become custom now, the Mountaineers just filled up the scoring book with a scaring amount of balance, but in spurts that Page simply couldn’t adjust to. Isiah Smith didn’t score in the second or fourth quarters and he still had a huge game.

 

“(Isiah Smith) did a great job in space, finding his teammates and they did a great job knocking down a lot of shots,” Breeden said.

 

The same second and fourth scoreless run was true for Twyman, with much of that due to foul trouble. Nonetheless, when he was in, he scored. But with Swink pouring in four three pointers and Alexander having his way in the paint, and Lewis hitting timely shots, the seniors didn’t need to lead the way in scoring this go around.

 

“We worked on swinging the ball, finding the open lanes and getting teammates open,” Lewis said. “Coach told us to stay calm, play our game and that’s what we did.”

 

A Lewis 3-pointer early in the third quarter put Madison up 42-33. Heading into the fourth the Mountaineers were up 13. And with Page unable to get the margin into single digits, the last ninety seconds of the contest were played by both benches.

 

“The more we win, the more it puts in our heart that we have to keep going,” Alexander said. “We’ve got to do it for these fans.”

 

On the night, Swink led the team in scoring with 20 points. Alexander finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Smith had 15 points and 10 assists to go with three steals. Lewis had 11 points. Twyman chipped in nine.

 

The Mountaineers will face Greensville at home on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Region 2A East semifinals. A win would put Madison into the Group 2A state tournament for the first time since 2010.

 

“We’re going to try and keep things as normal as possible going forward,” Breeden said. “Knowing that we have this crowd to support us, that we can be down and dig, look up and see that there’s a bigger reason we’re playing and wearing this Madison name on our chests — it’s big for us.”

 

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