History was made in Walter Davis Gymnasium on Tuesday night as the Tigers hosted the Middleburg Academy Dragons in the VISAA Division 2 State Tournament First Round. It was the first time that Hargrave had hosted a state tournament game in basketball and the Tigers did not disappoint as they beat a talented Middleburg team, 67-52, to advance to the VISAA Division 2 Elite Eight. Hargrave is now 26-3 on the season.
With an incredible outpouring of energy from the Hargrave Corps of Cadets, the “6th Man” had the atmosphere rocking! However, on the court, Hargrave started out pretty slow, falling behind 5-0 early and found themselves down 12-7 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Tigers were able to pick up the pace and force some Middleburg turnovers which led to easy baskets on the other end. After a hard fought first half, Hargrave held a 25-24 lead going into the locker room.
Middleburg came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, starting off with a 10-3 run before John Kirkpatrick made a beautiful pass to EJ Williams for a monster throw down plus the foul to cut the Tigers deficit to 34-31. On the very next possession, David Garey stole the inbounds pass, dished to Kirkpatrick who threw it up to a streaking DJ Myers for a huge dunk that almost blew the roof off Walter Davis Gymnasium. In the midst of all the excitement however, Hargrave trailed 42-39 heading into the final quarter of play.
Determined that they didn’t want their season to end, the Tigers came together and had one of their best segments of basketball all year. Grayson Tejeda had a crafty finish down low and on the next possession, the momentum turned all the way to Hargrave’s favor as they took the lead on a David Garey to Tre King alley-oop that was worthy of making Sportcenter’s Top Ten Plays. Hargrave took a 43-42 lead on that play, and continued to stretch their advantage to 50-42 over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. Clutch shooting and strong rebounding down the stretch helped Hargrave advance to the VISAA Division 2 State Tournament Elite Eight for the third time in school history as they held on for the 67-52 victory.
Notable Performances Include:
DJ Myers ’18–15 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
John Kirkpatrick ’18–14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
David Garey ’17–12 points, 6 steals, 3 assists, 2 rebounds
EJ Williams ’18–9 points, 6 rebounds
Tre King ’18–8 points, 6 rebounds
Grayson Tejeda ’17–5 points, 3 rebounds
Malik Morgan ’17–4 points, 9 deflections
Hargrave Military Academy heads to Lynchburg to face the 2016 VISAA Division 2 State Champion, Virginia Episcopal School on Wednesday, March 1st. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
