Devils beat King William, Carver to take district title

basketball_02_20_20_1 — MHS junior Landon Green (#3) scored 16 points on Friday against King William and 15 points on Monday against Carver. Here, Green takes the ball to the hoop against the Cavaliers. Photo by Charlie Koenig

basketball_02_20_20_nasir_thomas — Nasir Thomas (#15) works his way around a King William player on Friday night as the Devils defeated the Cavaliers, 71-66. Thomas scored five points in that game and another nine on Tuesday against Carver. Photo by Charlie Koenig

For the first time since 1980, the Mathews High School varsity boys’ basketball team has captured both the district’s regular season and tournament titles, beating Carver and King William in a pair of thrillers to capture the Tidewater District trophy.

Mathews beat King William 71-66 on Friday to earn the right to face Carver Academy for the championship trophy on Tuesday. In that game, the host Blue Devils found themselves trailing with two minutes left to play, but strong, opportunistic defense and key shooting propelled Mathews to a 56-51 victory.

From here, Mathews moves on to the Class 1 Region A tournament, hosting West Point in Monday’s quarterfinal game, beginning at 6 p.m. The winner advances to the regional semifinals on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with the regional championship game to be held next Friday, Feb. 28. A bid to the VHSL Class 1 state tournament is only two wins away for Curtis Willliamson’s Blue Devil team.

Carver

Beating the same team three times in one season is no easy task, as Mathews found out during Tuesday night’s Tidewater District championship game. In front of a packed crowd in the MHS gym, Mathews did just that, in spite of trailing the visiting Wolverines several times in the low-scoring contest. Mathews held a narrow 15-14 edge after one quarter of play, but went into halftime trailing by two points, 27-25.

With two minutes on the clock, Carver took a narrow 51-49 lead, but baskets by Landon Green gave Mathews back the lead, and Caleb Thomas put the icing on the cake with a pair of free throws.

Green was the top scorer on Tuesday, ending the night with 15 points. Christian Williams scored 13 points, including a pair of three-pointers, while Thomas was the other MHS player to score in double digits with 11. Nasir Thomas (nine points), Brandon Gandee (four points), Braden Hunley and Miles Maggioncalda (two points each) rounded out the scoring.

“Carver gave us all that we could handle, and more,” Williamson posted on Facebook following Tuesday’s win.

King William

To make it to Tuesday’s Tidewater District championship game, Mathews had to beat the King William Cavaliers on Friday night, and that was no easy task for the host Blue Devils. In a back-and-forth battle, Mathews finally pulled away in the closing minutes to win, 71-66.

Mathews took an early lead, but by the end of the first quarter momentum had swung back in favor of the Cavaliers, who led 18-12. By halftime, Mathews had closed the gap slightly, trailing 34-31.

The two teams were neck-and-neck going into the final quarter, with Mathews holding a narrow 49-47 lead at the break. Caleb Thomas, who had been held to only two points through three quarters of play, proved to be the difference for Mathews, racking up 16 more points to push the Devils into the lead.

Thomas’s 18 points was tops for Mathews, with Green (16 points), Williams (13 points) and Gandee (11 points) also ending the night in double digits. All of Williams’ points came in the first half, including four baskets from the three-point line.

Rounding out the scoring for Mathews were Nasir Thomas (five points), Jackson Putt (four points) and Hunley (two points).

Three Cavaliers were responsible for the bulk of that team’s 66 points—Kenadre Roane (21 points), Gavin Lipscomb (16 points) and Kolby Anderson (11 points).