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Tuesday, Feb. 7 – Keeping its playoff hopes alive, the Rockbridge County High School boys basketball team earned a 59-49 home win over Valley District rival Broadway in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday night in Lexington.
With the win, the Wildcats (11-11 overall, 5-3 district) avenged a 55-49 road loss to Broadway (11-10, 5-2) on Jan. 20.
Leading a balanced scoring attack in the rematch, Brandon Mays paced the Wildcats with a game-high 17 points, sinking two 3-pointers, while Andreas Poindexter added eight points for RC.
Before the game, the Wildcats honored Mays, Poindexter and their two other seniors, Peyton Jay and Daronde’ Stores.
RC got off to a fast start, taking a 9-2 lead in the first quarter before the Gobblers cut it to 13-11 by the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats got their offense rolling while containing Broadway. RC went on a 13-0 run in the first few minutes of the quarter to extend its lead to 24-11. The Wildcats went into halftime with a 28-14 lead.
Late in the third quarter, the Gobblers began to trim the lead, as star guard Tristan Yoder hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to 40-35. The Wildcats responded well, as a free throw from Keaton Owsley and a 3-pointer from Henry Lambert put the Wildcats up 44-35 at the end of the quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Lincoln Hundley made a 3-pointer to put RC up by 10 points. The Gobblers cut RC’s lead to 53-47 when Conner Michael hit a triple with just under two minutes left. However, the Wildcats then converted from the free throw line, with Mays, Poindexter and Lambert each making two free throws to put the game away.
Contributing to the Wildcats’ balanced scoring effort were Lambert and Milo Mulitalo with eight points each, Matthew Burkhart with six points, and Owsley with five.
Yoder, guarded well by Poindexter, led Broadway with 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers. Caleb Barnes added 12 points, sinking two triples for the Gobblers, and Breylon Miller chipped in nine.
Check back here to see if the Wildcats will advance to the Region 3C tournament.
For the full story and photos from Tuesday’s game, please see our Feb. 15 newspaper. Coverage of last week’s action will be in this Wednesday’s newspaper.
