SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Trailing 43-40 with half a minute to play in the Mountain State Athletic Conference championship game, Spring Valley needed some heroics to leave the South Charleston Community Center with the league title.
A pair of baskets and a pair of clutch defensive stops allowed the Timberwolves to take the conference title and avenge a 25-point loss to the Patriots from earlier in the week, 44-43.
Down by three points in the final minute, Jalyn Abercrombie’s steal and outlet pass set up Clay Robertson for a breakaway layup. The Wolves pulled within a point a 43-42. After forcing a turnover, Spring Valley took the lead with ten seconds left when Colton Caldwell rebounded a missed shot and scored it to go up by one.
After George Washington called timeout, Spring Valley head coach Rick Chaffin countered with a timeout of his own. A defensive switch proved crucial as Caldwell blocked a shot in the lane as time expired to secure the win.
“We changed our defense. We hadn’t used it the whole game,” Chaffin said. “We went to a box-and-one. We figured they would go to [Gale] Lamb. Lamb is a great player and a clutch shooter. I think it kind of threw them off just a little bit.”
The game was tightly contested throughout. Spring Valley’s seven-point lead [31-24] midway through the third quarter was the largest advantage for either team in the game. The Timberwolves (18-2) led 10-9 after the first quarter, 23-20 at halftime and 33-32 after three quarters.
Harrison Riggs led Spring Valley with 13 points while Robertson and Caldwell each added a dozen.
On Tuesday, George Washington (15-3) won at Spring Valley, 75-50.
“When we played the other night, they hit 12 out of 16 threes. They shot the ball really, really well. They’re a very good ball team. Number one, we knew we had to pick up our defense, which we changed it a little bit tonight. Offensively, we knew we had to do more isolation rather than running our team sets. I think it was a combination of things.
“But when you are beaten 75-50, it is kind of hard to come back. I told our kids, ‘Don’t worry about the score. We are working for the next game. If you let this game beat you, it is going to beat us Saturday night’. We regrouped.”
Spring Valley’s 18 wins are tied for second-most in the state at any level.
“It is just another step in getting ready for the regionals and the state tournament, hopefully. We wanted to keep playing well. We played well all year long. We wanted to come out here and give a good effort and go right on in to the postseason with a good win behind us.”
Gale Lamb led the Patriots with 21 points.