The Mathews High School varsity boys’ basketball team travels to the Siegel Center tonight to face Auburn High School with the state title on the line.

The VHSL Class 1 championship game will be held at the Virginia Commonwealth University arena on Thursday, with an 8 p.m. tip-off.

The road to Richmond wasn’t an easy one for Mathews, as the Blue Devils had to rally in a pair of come-from-behind games against Riverheads on Friday and Colonial Beach on Tuesday in the state quarterfinal and semifinal games.

In both games, Mathews (23-7) didn’t take its first lead until the fourth quarter. And, on Tuesday night, it took an overtime period to beat the Colonial Beach Drifters, a team that had previously defeated Mathews for the Region A championship.

“We played so hard—not smart at times—but hard,” MHS head coach Curtis Williamson said after Tuesday night’s victory. “They never quit,” he said of his players.

Colonial Beach

As in the Riverheads game four days before, the Mathews boys took a long time to get in a rhythm against Colonial Beach. In the game, which was held at King George High School, Mathews trailed by four points at the end of the first quarter, 10-6, and the Drifters had opened a six-point lead at the half, 30-24.

Mathews rallied in the third quarter, and the teams went into the fourth tied, 40-40. A short while later, Christian Williams hit a three-pointer to give the Devils their first lead, 43-42.

In the closing minutes, Mathews found itself trailing again when Caleb Thomas connected on a pair of free throws to give the Devils a one-point lead, 49-48, with 46 seconds left in regulation.

Colonial Beach came right back and scored a two-pointer, drawing a foul that gave the Drifters a 51-49 edge. Then Nasir Thomas came up with the big shot of the night, hitting his basket as time expired to send the game into OT.
The big player for Mathews in overtime was junior Landon Green, who scored all five points, including three from the free-throw line. Green scored 14 points in the win.

Caleb Thomas was the top scorer for Mathews with 16 points. Williams ended the night with 15 points, including three three-pointers. Brandon Gandee scored five points and Nasir Thomas finished with four. Tae Legette rounded out the scoring with two points. Jace Jett was the top scorer for the Drifters with 20 points.

“What a game! I’m exhausted, we played a great Colonial Beach team, this team never stopped fighting, but they damn sure got my blood pressure high as the sky,” Williamson posted on Facebook following Tuesday’s win.

Riverheads

To make it to Tuesday’s state semifinal game, Mathews had to make it past the Region B champions from Riverheads. The Gladiators put up quite a fight, but in the end Mathews prevailed in the state quarterfinal, 59-56.

Mathews struggled in the early going, trailing 32-25 at the half. The Devils took their first lead with only about 6 minutes left in the final quarter, when Braden Hunley hit a three pointer to put Mathews up, 45-44. The lead was short-lived though, as Riverheads responded with its own three pointer.

Landon Green came up with a couple of crucial baskets and sank a couple of free throws to help Mathews regain the lead. Caleb Thomas also came up with a pair of clutch free throws in the closing minutes.

Four MHS players ended the night in double digits, led by Caleb Thomas with 14 points. Christian Williams ended the night with 12 points, while Nasir Thomas and Landon Green each had 10 points.

Rounding out the scoring were Tae Legette with six points, Braden Hunley with five and Brandon Gandee with two points.

Grant Painter scored 23 of the Gladiators’ 56 points. Elijah Dunlap added nine.