FLY LIKE THE EAGLES: Boys bounce back after first loss of season

SOUTH BOSTON – Lynn Ramage threw his hands in the air, as if pleading toward the heavens, before placing them back on his hips and grimly shaking his head.

“NOT IN THE BOOK!?!” the Halifax County coach moaned.

The technical foul levied for substituting in a Halifax player who wasn’t listed in the official scorebook brought a frenetic game with bitter rival George Washington to a standstill midway through the first quarter. GW’s ensuing successful foul shots coupled with a steal and a quick basket destroyed the momentum the Blue Comets had established with their explosive start and helped propel the Eagles to a 58-53 victory in Western Valley District action Friday night in South Boston.

“We had to settle down,” GW senior Stephen Coles said. “A technical is going to boost either team. I guess it boosted us. We settled down and played defense and everything came together after that.”

Coles scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed a whopping 21 rebounds and added five assists to help the Eagles (11-1, 1-1) to their first district victory this season after a demoralizing loss in their opener at William Fleming on Tuesday. Coles scored 10 points in the third quarter when the Eagles established an 11-point lead, at 47-36, their largest of the game.

“We rebounded the basketball, we moved the ball around, got the ball inside to Steve and we just rode him,” GW coach Bobby Martin said. “Our guys were really, really down Tuesday … so we had to work hard to get back. They’re not used to losing. It was tough. This was a big step for them, to get back on the winning track.”

C.J. Barksdale recorded 12 points, 19 rebounds and five blocks in the victory.

Durrell Chandler drilled four 3-pointers and paced Halifax County (7-5, 1-1) with 16 points. Kejuan Mayo added 10.

Halifax opened the contest on a crippling tear, scoring on all but two possessions before the electric atmosphere and the Comets’ momentum was suffocated by the unusual technical foul nearly 5 minutes into the game. Halifax owned an 11-4 lead at the time and had perennial powerhouse GW reeling and the jammed gymnasium rocking.

GW guard Greg Wimbush, who finished with eight points, quickly scored four by hitting a pair of foul shots and converting a steal into a quick bucket, narrowing the Eagles’ deficit to 11-8 and forcing a Halifax timeout.

The Comets regained their composure, but were never able to create much distance between themselves and the Eagles. Barksdale’s tip-in of a Coles miss tied the game for the first time since the opening minute of play at 26-26 a little more than 2 minutes before halftime and Chris White hit a long 3-pointer to put the Eagles ahead for good 85 seconds before intermission.

GW closed the first half on an 11-0 run spanning 4 1/2-minutes of game time and the teams entered the break with the Eagles leading 31-26. Halifax was limited to seven points in the frame after scoring 19 in the first quarter.

GW’s advantage grew to its largest of the night, at 47-36, by the close of the third quarter and the Eagles learned from their mistakes Tuesday night – when GW allowed an eight-point fourth-quarter lead to slip away – by salting away the fourth. Halifax connected for three 3-pointers in the final minute of play to tighten the Eagles’ margin of victory.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Ramage said, “and that’s the bottom line.”