GW boys dominate Franklin County

It didn’t matter which side of the court C.J. Barksdale was on. The George Washington sophomore gave Franklin County trouble on both.

The 6-foot-7 forward scored 28 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had eight blocks as GW throttled Franklin County 74-59 in the Western Valley District tournament semifinals on Wednesday night in Danville.

GW (21-2) will play host to William Fleming for the district tournament title at 7 p.m. Friday.

The GW Eagles opened the game with a 13-2 run, forcing Franklin County coach Doug Conklin to use a 30-second timeout. GW’s defense had five blocks in the first three minutes of the game, including four by sophomore C.J. Barksdale. Barksdale finished the first quarter with seven blocks.

“Our defense set the tone,” GW coach Bobby Martin said. “They’re one of the best shooting teams in our district. You can’t give them open looks. They do a great job of pump-faking and driving to the rack. So I was pleased with our effort of taking away the 3s and still controlling the dribble. And it helps having C.J. back there also.”

Barksdale turned to his offense in the second quarter and scored 13 of his 19 first-half points to put his Eagles ahead by as many as 17 before Franklin County (15-9) cut the deficit to 36-20 by halftime.

“We shot 8 percent from 3 and 23 percent for the half,” Franklin County coach Doug Conklin said. “Against a team like this, you’re not going to have a whole lot of chances.”

Both teams played toe-to-toe in the third quarter, which allowed GW to preserve a double-digit lead that increased to as much as 26 in the fourth quarter.

“I told them we had to come out strong in the first 3 minutes (of the second half),” Martin said. “I thought we did that.”

Barksdale finished the night 12-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the foul line.

“I give my guards the credit for getting me the ball down low where I could be dominant,” Barksdale said.

Chris White finished with nine points for GW, which also got eight points from Jerail Howerton and Daniel Clark. Howerton also dished out 11 assists and Stephen Coles added 11 rebounds.

J.T. Edwards scored 16 points to lead Franklin County, which also got 13 points from Daniel Hutson.

GW turns its attention to William Fleming, which beat Patrick Henry 56-39 in their semifinal game on Wednesday. The Colonels (19-4) swept the regular-season series with GW, but the Eagles won Monday’s playoff game between the two schools for the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

“Here we go again,” Martin said. “It’s not like we don’t know each other. It will be a hard-fought game.”