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It is hard to say who was most disappointed after the opening round of boys’ district tournament play. In the Capital District Championships, played at Henrico, Lee-Davis came in as a decided underdog to face a hot Henrico team. Atlee was a nearly even match agaisnt Varina while Hanover was a favorite against an Armstrong team that had won only three district games all season.

  In the end, the results were the same; all three Hanover County high schools fell in their opening rounds. The Confederates were run out of the gym 79-54 while both Atlee and Hanover watched double-digit halftime leads evaporate in the final two minutes of play.

  After leading by 14 at the break, the Raiders fell 56-51 to the Blue Devils. The Hawks’ 10-point halftime lead dwindled into a 53-46 loss to the Wildcats.
  Meanwhile Patrick Henry lost to Douglas Freeman 63-50 in the Colonial District Tournament opener.
LEE-DAVIS-HENRICO

  No. 7 seed Lee-Davis came into their opener thinking they were taking on the No. 2 seed Henrico team, but all it took was the performance of two Warriors in the first quarter to do in the Confederates.  Capital District Player of the Year, Trey Davis of Henrico, single-handedly matched Lee-Davis’ first period offense by scoring nine points on three, 3-pointers, two of which pushed the Warriors out to an early 10-2 led. But it was the athletic 6-4 Justin Coleman who did the most damage, outscoring the entire Lee-Davis team 12-9 in the first period and giving Henrico a 27-9 lead heading into the second.

  If Henrico has exhibited one weakness it is running a half-court offense, however Lee-Davis’ missed shots led to transition baskets for the Warriors and prevented the C-feds from slowing Henrico. “It’s one of those things, we have to make shots, we didn’t make shots,” said Lee-Davis head coach Tripp Metzger.

  It was a devastating onslaught from which Lee-Davis could not recover. Henrico pushed the lead to 21, 30-9, on a Kris Walden three to open the second and the Confederates got no closer than 18 for the remainder of the game.

  “We dug ourselves a hole early, down 19 by after the first quarter; lose by 25-26,” Metzger said. “It’s been the story this year, we have a bad quarter here or there; we usually have them early.

  “We only had nine turnovers,” Metzger added. “It wasn’t their defense and their pressure that hurt is. It was just ourselves. We didn’t make shots when we needed to make them.”

  Henrico’s Davis and Coleman both finished with double-doubles; Davis 11 points, 12 rebounds, Coleman 26 points, 10 rebounds. Metzger felt that Coleman, who only recently became eligible, makes Henrico a completely different team. “We felt earlier in the season we were a pretty good match for them,” Metzger said. “He’s (Coleman) a difference maker. He’s so athletic. Plays above the rim, we don’t have anybody that can play up there with him. It’s tough to get shots off when he’s down there.”

  Lee-Davis was led by 11 points (two 3-pointers) from senior Travis Abele.

  Even though the loss was a disappointment, Metzger was looking ahead. “Hopefully we can move forward,” he said. “We’ve got a good group of young kids. I’m really anxious for next season.”

ATLEE-VARINA

  Closing out the regular season, the team that Atlee felt they would best match up with in the district tournament was Varina. The Raiders got their wish and their nightmare all in one game.

  On the strength of strong shooting and a stingy defense, Atlee closed out the first quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 16-10 lead over the Blue Devils heading into the second.

  However, with 2:09 left in the half, Varina had trimmed the margin to 21-17, but then the Raiders’ Cameron Colquitt took over, single-handedly outscoring Varina 13-2 over the final 1:45 of the half.

  Colquitt blistered the nets for seven straight points on a short jumper, a plus-one field goal and a high banker. With 1:02 until the break, Varina’s Bobby Smith vented his frustration and was whistled for a technical. Colquitt sank both free throws then scored on a turnaround jumper then added two freebies to complete his run and give Atlee a 34-19 lead heading into the locker room.

  But the second half was a different story all-together for the Atlee team that was looking to advance to the regionals for the first time in school history.

  The Raiders suffered from turnovers, poor shooting and the inability to bounce back from questionable calls to score only 17 points in the second half, five in the third quarter.

  “They changed defenses a little bit,” said Atlee head coach Phil Reynolds. “It just slowed us down more than turned us over. We did make more turnovers in the second half, but I think it was more us than what Varina did. We just played more cautiously and they slowly whittled away.”

  Atlee’s Austin Young, a post player who has excelled at taking charges all season was repeatedly called for blocking fouls and fouled out with 6:02 in the fourth. “I felt we were there on a few of them, that really lifts you up,” Reynolds said. “I don’t think we got one charge all night and they did a good job of taking the ball to the hole.”

  Colquitt, who has played with a sore back throughout the close the season, had difficulty making his shots fall and scored only five points in the second half.

  Varina chipped away at the lead and trailed by six, 39-33 heading into the final period.

  With 3:18 to play, a Colquitt three from the left wing pushed the Atlee lead back to six, 48-42 but Varina then went on a 6-0 run to tie the game with 1:59 to play.

  “Offensively, we never did get in a rhythm like we did in the first half,” Reynolds said. “They didn’t handle our press well at all but we didn’t score so we couldn’t press.”

  The Raiders momentarily retook the lead 49-48 on a free throw from Phil Hodges but seconds later a put-back from Smith put Varina ahead for good.

  “I think we played not to lose instead of playing to win,” Colquitt said. “That was the difference. I think we were trying to ice the game a little bit.”

  Colquitt also credited Varina’s defense that switched from a zone to pressure man-to-man in the second half. “That kind of got us out of our game a little bit because we don’t have the best ball handlers,” Colquitt said.

  Atlee was led by 21 points from Colquitt while Ryan Farrar did not play due to illness.

  Che’von Davneport led Varina with 12 points.

HANOVER-ARMSTRONG

  Hanover came into their Capital District opener as a team that had completed one of the region’s best turnaround seasons; going from winless in the district for two consecutive years to finishing in a tie for third place this year. Armstrong came into the game as a team that had gone winless in the district until three weeks ago and finished with three league wins. But all that meant nothing when it came to the do-or-die situation of tournament play.

  In nearly an identical copy of the Atlee-Varina game, Hanover jumped ahead early on the strength of strong offense. Senior Drew Crytser took control of the game early for the Hawks, scoring 10 of Hanover’s 18 first quarter points and giving the Hawks a nine point lead heading into the second period.

  But early signs of trouble began to arise when Hanover point guard Greg Lewis picked up his second foul one minute into the second quarter and was relegated to the bench. Though fellow sophomore Dee Taylor did an exceptional job of running the offense, he did not provide the scoring punch of Lewis and the Hawks began to sputter.

  “He’s a really good shooter,” Hanover head coach Troy Manns said of Lewis. “But Dee Taylor did a great job coming in, he didn’t have any turnovers handling the ball. But Greg, he has several dimensions.”

  The Hawks did not score over the first 4:21 of the second giving Armstrong confidence when they trimmed the margin to four, 18-14.

  But Hanover answered with an 8-2 run off a Danny Trsic put-back of a miss by Crytser,  jumpers from seniors Jared Yeager and Dylan Cole then a score inside from Trsic off a dead-eye assist from senior Patrick Carroll.

  Armstrong fought back to trim the margin to 26-18 on a jumper from Quentin Christian but Lewis reentered the contest to run the Hawks over the final minute of the half and scored with :22 seconds before the break to give Hanover a 10-point lead heading into the locker room.

  However, like Atlee earlier, the Hanover offense fell apart in the second half. A minute and a half after the break, Lewis picked up his third foul and returned to the bench and the Hawks went nearly two minutes without scoring. Lewis returned briefly but then picked up his fourth foul with 4:42 in the third.

  With 3:56 left in the third, Hanover’s two smallest players on the floor, Trsic and Taylor went in among the Armstrong trees and Trsic scored on a put-back of a Taylor miss to give the Hawks a 34-23 lead.

  But Hanover made only one field goal over the next 12 minutes of play. Cole scored on a turnaround jumper with 1.9 in the third to give the Hawks a 40-31 advantage heading into the final period. However, Hanover did not make their next field goal until 0:49.7 remained in the game.

  The Hawks clung to a 42-39 edge when Crytser hit a pair of free throws with 3:46 to play. But then the defensive wheels fell off for Hanover.

  Armstrong’s Nathaniel Taylor scored on a jumper to pull the Wildcats within one then Gary Xavier gave them their first lead of the game on a left wing three with 1:58 to play. Christian added to the lead with a steal and layup and Taylor pushed the margin further on put-back. A pair of free throws from Zach Benjamin capped an 11-0 run by the Wildcats and they held on down the stretch for the win.

  “They made adjustments and we attempted to make adjustments and it just didn’t work out,” Manns said. “It was an emotion thing. Both teams played hard. We played hard enough to win, we just didn’t.”

  Even though his team lost, Manns was pleased with the turnaround the Hawks completed over the course of the season. “We were picked to be last in the district, so to be in this position, the guys did a great job, played hard, fought hard, we just ran out of gas,” he said. 

  “We have something to start with now,” Manns said. “We have a base, a foundation and we can build from that. We’ve created expectations, which is good and we’ll just build for next year.”

Cryster led Hanover with 15 points. Armstrong was led by Benjamin’s 16 points and 16 rebounds.

HENRICO 79,LEE-DAVIS 54
LEE-DAVIS (5-18) N. Frame 2, J. Harvey 0, Cook 7, G. Frame 6, T. Harvey 3, Kyser 3, Joyner 6, D. Abele 2, T. Abele 11, Berry 8, Labons 2, Naumann 1, Boze 3. Totals 21 6-13 54.
HENRICO (16-7) Walden 10, T. Davis 11, Harrison 7, B. Davis 1, Burston 4, Carter 2, Johnson 0, Wells 8, Zavelsky 10, Thorpe 0, Grooms 0, Robinson 0, Coleman 26. Totals 28 15-20 79.
Lee-Davis————————————9 11 14 20—54
Henrico————————————- 27 13 15 24—79
3-point goals: L-D—T. Abele 2, Boze, Kyser, Frame, Cook. H—T. Davis 3, Wells 2, Walden 2, Coleman.

VARINA 56, ATLEE 51
ATLEE (8-14) Colquitt 21, Garthright 0, Faggert 4, Morrison 3, Evans 2, Hodges 7, Reiss 2, Prince 7, Young 3, Johnson 2. Totals 18 11-12 51.
VARINA (12-10) Davenport 12, Sellers 2, Crump 7, B. Smith 10, T. Smith 10, King-Davis 9, Fitts 3, Harrison 3, Bradley 0. Totals 18 19-23 56.
Atlee————————————16 18 5 12—51
Varina————————————- 10 9 14 23—56
3-point goals: A—Colquitt 2, Morrison, Prince. V—Fitts.

ARMSTRONG 53, HANOVER 46
ARMSTRONG (7-13) Gary 15, Christian 14, Winston 3, T. Taylor 3, Benjamin 16, Robinson 2, Chavis 0, Wilson 0. Totals: 18 13-24 53.
HANOVER (8-14), Trsic 6, Taylor 0, Crytser 15, Lewis 10, Yeager 4, Carroll 0, Cole 11. Totals: 18 8-11 46.
Armstrong————————————9 9 13 22—53
Hanover————————————- 18 10 12 6—46
3-point goals: A—Gary 4. H—Crytser 2.

COLONIAL DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
DOUGLAS FREEMAN 63, PATRICK HENRY 50

The No. 4 Rebels needed a victory, and came through with a strong second quarter to defeat the Patriots. Billy Giles had 28 points and 12 rebounds, Philip Rohrer added 13 points.
PATRICK HENRY (8-15) Morris 12, Hooker 3, M. Derricott 0, D. Derricott 11, Overstreet 8, Vaught 0, Carroll 14, Smith 0, Xiardis 0, Leech 2. Totals: 18 9-15 50.
DOUGLAS FREEMAN (19-3) Mann 3, Smalley 4, Susic 0, N. Turner 1, Smith 0, O’Connor 6, Giles 28, Witty 0, Rohrer 13, Janney 0, Brinkley 7, J. Turner 0, Tucker 1. Totals: 22 16-22 63.
Patrick Henry————————————10 8 15 17—50
Douglas Freeman————————————- 10 17 21 15—63
3-point goals: PH—Carroll 2, Morris 2, Hooker. DF—Mann, O’Connor, Giles.