Dan River boys overcome Altavista's plodding style

RINGGOLD — Dan River needed some late-game heroics, but despite trailing for the first three quarters the Wildcats were able to come away with a 39-37 win over Altavista Wednesday night in a Dogwood District semifinal and will play Appomattox in the championship game Friday night.

Terrence Womack hit a 3-pointer with 4:38 left to play to give the Wildcats (19-3,12-0) their first lead of the night over the Colonels (12-10,6-7). Altavista was able to pull even at 35-35 with 50 seconds to play when Mike Poindexter connected for three points, but Darren White sank a free throw with 44 seconds remaining to put the Wildcats on top for the final time.

“I was just focused,” White said. “I love pressure. It really wasn’t anything. I did miss one, but I hit one and that’s what we needed.”

The Colonels used a slow-paced offense to go on an 11-5 run in the opening quarter. They were able to keep the fast-paced Wildcats offense in check until the final 5 minutes of the game, when White scored seven points in the closing minutes to give Dan River the win.

Dan River coach Jacob Gruse said it was an ugly win, but was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I mean, it was a good win,” Gruse said. “But it was an ugly win, which beats a pretty loss any day. Their offense took us out of our gameplan and we weren’t focused. But the good thing about the tournament is you win and you stay alive. We did, and now we play in the championship game Friday night.”

White also said that his team wasn’t really focused on Altavista.

“We were not really focused,” White said. “It is tough to stay focused on defense so much. We should’ve paced the game. Our game is running, but we played their game.

“It is an ugly win,” he said. “But I’ll take the win, though. It feels good to come out with a win.”

Gruse saw the slow, grueling Altavista offense as the reason the Wildcats offense wasn’t able to get in a rhythm.

“That’s what they wanted to do,” Gruse said. “That was their game plan. We like to run and gun and we have put up 97 points before. This was not our style of basketball and we were lucky to come away with a win.

“We just had to come out pressing in the end,” he said. “We had to force them into making turnovers. We left their shooters wide open, which was beautiful. To be honest, (Altavista coach) Mike Cartolaro is a good coach and I didn’t know how this would turn out until the end.”

Gruse thinks his team will have to play a lot better Friday, but is excited to take on the Raiders.

“We have to play a heck of a lot better Friday night,” Gruse said. “Our guys have to bounce back tomorrow at practice. For Friday, both teams really play our style of ball.

“We just have to bounce back and mentally be ready,” he said. “Friday is the kind of game we dream about. There will be a good crowd, and we really are the buzz around Ringgold.”