Mike Poindexter drilled a 30-foot 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to give Altavista’s boys basketball team a 27-26 lead and the momentum going into the second half, when the Colonels pulled past host Page County 57-46 in a Region B, Division 1 quarterfinal.
Kyle Andrews sank two of his three 3-pointers and scored eight of his 13 points in the third period before Altavista (13-10) pounded the ball inside to sophomore forward Jerrell Jordan (15 points, eight rebounds) in the fourth quarter and sank 8 of its 10 free throws, including 4-for-4 by Poindexter.
Defensively, Jawaad Douglas drew three charges on Panthers point guard Dylan Painter, who fouled out with more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Nick Ferguson netted 15 points and six rebounds for the Colonels while Dakota Wolf paced Page County with 18 points and Allen Cloude added 13.
Altavista advances to meet top-seeded Buffalo Gap, a 52-39 winner over Nelson County, in Friday’s semifinal at Eastern Mennonite University starting at 8 p.m. with a Group A, Division 1, state tournament berth on the line.
The Bison (21-2) beat Page County 71-40 in last week’s Shenandoah District semifinal before losing to Riverheads in final at EMU.
“They’re a very solid team,” Altavista coach Mike Cartolaro said of Buffalo Gap, which features center Boone Jones, the co-district player of the year. “They have been ranked (in The Associated Press Group A state poll) all year. They have a lot of seniors who have been together for about three years. We’re certainly the underdog here in the (No.) 5 spot (but) we’re still alive.”
He said the Bison will come at the Colonels full force.
“They use a lot of full-court pressure man-to-man defense,” Cartolaro said. “We’ll have to take care of the ball against those guys. They get after it (and) try to get in transition.”
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