Late Graham push bounces Gate City, Virginia High knocks out Union in Region 2D boys semifinals

GATE CITY — With one quarter to go and up by seven points, Gate City's boys basketball team looked like it might be moving on. Graham, however, had other ideas.The G-Men (17-7) implemented a full-court press to start the fourth quarter and made a furious comeback to vanquish the Blue Devils 55-51 in Thursday's Region 2D semifinals at Gate City Middle School.Gate City (20-5) committed 15 second-half turnovers — after only four in the first two periods — and went just 7-for-16 from the field after the break."We said we were going to go 100% and break out the full-court press," Graham coach Todd Baker said. "We were going to try to create some turnovers. I thought that switched the momentum and that really bothered them late. I didn't want to use it early because we only play eight."Daniel Jennings, Graham's 6-foot-4, 235-pound sophomore, could not be stopped down low on the glass, racking up 13 points. Markelle Ray led the G-Men with 16.Graham, which clinched a state tournament berth, advanced to Saturday's regional title game against Virginia High. The site and time are to be determined.Gate City shot just 1-for-12 from 3-point range and couldn't really find a rhythm offensively late."Our goal in practice yesterday was to make them hurry," Baker said. "They all can shoot it, but we just wanted to run at it, close out and make them dribble before they take the shot. Or at least change the shot."Gunner Garrett led Gate City with 16 points and fellow senior Eli McMurray had 12.It was a tough loss for the seniors who got to the same point as last season and fell to the G-Men again, but a 20-win campaign was a big step in first-year head coach Chris Fugate's eyes."In these types of games where (the referees) swallow their whistle, they just made more plays than we did," Fugate said. "We got to this point last year and we were 11-12. These kids accomplished a lot this year and 30 years from now, they're going to remember this season. There's a lot more to this season than one loss."Virginia High 63, Union 55The Bearcats (20-5) started on fire, hitting 9 of 12 shots in the first quarter and getting out to a 21-9 lead.Virginia High clinched a state tournament berth for the third straight season. This time Julius Gallishaw's crew was led by an experienced junior and a talented freshman.Freshman Landon Lee was a brute on the inside, going off for 23 points, and slashing guard Deonta Mozell had 16."I have a lot of confidence in (Lee and Mozell) and they're just so good at what they do," Gallishaw said. "Sometimes you can't put a price tag on it and you don't want to run offense. You just want to let them go sometimes."Union fought back in the second, getting back within single digits, but could never get any closer than six.Kam Bostic, the Bears' leading scorer, had a hard time getting rolling. He scored just three points in the first half and finished with eight. Brayden Wharton kept Union in it, netting 12 early and hitting three shots from long range. Wharton finished with 14 points.Paul Huff led Union (18-10) with 17 points.In Kory Bostic's first year coaching Union's boys, he took essentially the same team that went 10-15 and got to the regional semifinals."We knew they were going to come out with a lot of intensity and energy," Coach Bostic said. "I think it really was the start of the game that got us. … For 28 games, those guys took the floor and gave me everything they had."