HARRISONBURG — All you have to do is ask Altavista senior forward Mike Poindexter what his focus is on right now and he will tell you it’s on a chance to play for a state championship.
Poindexter scored a game-high 30 points, including eight 3-pointers, to lead the Colonels past Page County 84-79 in the Region B, Division 1, semifinal.
“We stuck together as a team tonight,” said Poindexter after the win. “Tonight was a regular game for us and we played together till the end. We are focused as a team.”
Things didn’t start off on the right foot for the Colonels, after they were called for a technical foul in warm-ups that gave the Panthers two free throws and the ball to start the game.
Dakota Wolf sunk both of the free throws for the Panthers, but the bad start didn’t affect the Colonels at all. Poindexter caught fire for Altavista with three 3-pointers in the first quarter to help give the Colonels the lead 22-19 after the first.
“Mike (Poindexter) was in a real good rhythm shooting the ball,” Altavista coach Mike Cartolaro said. “He made some big shots at some big points in the game for us.”
In the second quarter, it was Jerrell Jordan and Nick Ferguson who took over for the Colonels. Ferguson helped give Altavista an eight-point lead at 31-23 midway into the second quarter, and before long Jordan gave the Colonels their biggest lead of the half on a three-point play for the 37-27 advantage.
The Panthers went on 6-0 run to close the half to cut the Colonels’ lead to 37-33.
In the third quarter, both teams swapped the lead numerous times, but Poindexter got hot again from behind the arc and changed things around fast for the Colonels with four more 3-pointers to help give his team a 58-53 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
Cartolaro found himself in big trouble in the fourth with three of his players with four fouls, and Jerrell Jordan already fouled out with five minutes to play.
The Colonels held a 10-point lead with three minutes to go in the game and slowly saw it shrink in the final minute.
“We made big plays when we had to. Page makes you play really fast and that made things tough on us,” Cartolaro said. “We will have to play with more tempo on Saturday night. Madison County is a tough team and we will have to play hard.”
The Panthers had an opportunity to tie the game in the dying seconds after Poindexter missed an open layup, but the desperate attempt hit all iron and bounced away. Poindexter was fouled with 5.9 seconds left and sealed the win with two free throws.
The Colonels will play for the Region B championship on Saturday night against Madison County at Spotswood High School.
The Panthers were led by Dakota Wolf with 26 points and Dylan Painter with 24 points in the loss.
Poindexter paced Altavista with 30 points. Jordan and Ferguson each added 16 points for the Colonels.
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