Landstown Wins at the Buzzer
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>6A-South
Region Semifinals:
Final - - C1 #1
class=SpellE>Landstown 53, C2 #1 Woodside 51
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>There are great games and then there are games that go
down in the books as instant classics with memorable endings.
style=> The finish to the 6A-South Region Tournament
semifinals between the Landstown Eagles and Woodside
Wolverines in Newport News on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 won't soon be forgotten.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Trailing by nine with 2:50 remaining,
class=SpellE>Landstown staged a comeback for the ages that left the Wolverines sobbing uncontrollably and in disbelief, winning 53-51 on a buzzer-beater
from 6-foot-8 junior center Darius
class=SpellE>Bolstad. A hoard
of Landstown fans streamed onto the court in
celebration as they punched their ticket to the State Tournament for the first
time since 2005.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>With 26 seconds to play, Landstown
took the lead since the game's opening quarter when junior wing when
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>R.J. Nicholson scored inside to make
the score 51-49. On the very next trip
down the floor, Woodside sophomore point guard
normal'>Devante Carter drove the basket, hit a shot and was fouled.
style=> His free-throw was off the mark, leaving the
score tied and giving Landstown a shot to win it to
prevent overtime.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Senior Xavier
Cooper, also a baseball a player, had to inbound the ball with 2.8 seconds
remaining and the length of the court in front of him.
style=> His pass was nearly stolen by Wolverines
senior Rashaan Johnson, and instead
the ball bounced away and into the waiting arms of Bolstad,
who delivered a game-winner that broke Woodside's hearts as well as their
13-game winning streak.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"At first, I thought he was going to catch it and then
go down with it," Bolstad said in reference to
Johnson on his steal attempt. "When it
came off, I grabbed it so quick, I put a light touch on it, and when it went
in, I'm still in shock. I wasn't
nervous. I didn't want to rush it, but I
had to rush it. That soft touch comes in
handy."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Where does this one rank in terms of dramatic endings
for Head Coach Dwight Robinson his
tenure at Landstown?
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Number one in my coaching career," he answered.
style=> "We actually changed a little something on
that play. The front part was the same,
but we normally have Darius in the backcourt.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I told him to go down to the rim.
style=> At least we can throw it up to him, try to
catch it and do something. They tipped
that thing and he happened to be in the right place because everybody ran to
the ball. It worked out good for us."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For Woodside, they saw a lot go wrong in the final
three minutes after building a 46-37 advantage.
Sophomore forward Chris
class=SpellE>Orlina, who scored 13 points in the first half, fouled
out with 34.2 seconds to play. The
Wolverines had a discouraging night at the foul line, converting only 14-of-31
tries and 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter with several chances to close the game
out.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>It marked Woodside's first loss since January 4th when
they were beaten at Nansemond River, 65-59.
While the Wolverines - - ranked #1 in the state in the latest 6A Top Ten
- - saw their outstanding that included regular season and tournament titles in
the Monitor-Merrimac Conference come to an end at 22-4 overall,
class=SpellE>Landstown pushes on to the next round, also with a mark of
22-4 overall.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Eagles overcame obstacles of their own.
style=> Landstown shot just
7-of-17 at the charity stripe themselves, giving them
28 missed free-throws over the past two games combined.
style=> They committed 18 turnovers and saw their
leading scorer on the night, senior guard Brandon
Pringle (14Pts.), foul out, yet persevered to move into the 6A-South Regional
Championship against Colonial Forge (24-1), winners of 22 straight.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The win streak for Landstown
is now at 13 games. Their last loss was
to Battlefield on January 11th in the Sixth Annual VirginiaPreps.com
Classic. Coincidentally, Battlefield is
the last team to beat Colonial Forge back on December 19th.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We're very excited because this is what we've been working
towards since the summer time when we were playing at Virginia Wesleyan in
those tournaments," Pringle commented. "We've
been hoping we would get to play at VCU and have an opportunity to win a State
Championship."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
mso-highlight:yellow'>Player of the Game:
style=> Landstown G Brandon
Pringle - - It's a dream come true for Landstown that
they are heading on to the State Final Four, and it also was arguably the best
game Pringle has played all season for the Eagles.
style=> Just two games ago versus Tallwood,
he finished scoreless. In this contest,
he made 4-of-5 from three-point land and had five rebounds as well as four
assists, rising to the occasion time and time again.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Pringle made two of his three-pointers in the fourth
quarter to help spark the rally.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I knew this was one of our biggest games of the year
and had to step up big for my team, especially when we were down.
style=> Some of these shots were the biggest I'll
take in my life in my High School career," Pringle stated.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We pretty much told ourselves we're not going to give
up, no matter what happens. It's a great
feeling that we pulled it through."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Keys to Victory:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>#1
- - Apply Pressure:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>A
staple of the Landstown program for years has been
their ability to mix it up defensively with a variety of presses and traps,
full-court, half-court or three-quarter court.
When their season was on the brink, Robinson and company fell back on
what they do best.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I had told them we're going to unleash it at some
time, and being down like that we felt like we needed to change some things,"
Robinson remarked. "We thought we could
pressure them, but we didn't want to do it early.
style=> It came at the right time."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In the fourth quarter, Woodside turned it over five
times, one right behind Landstown's basket on a steal
by Cooper late in the contest. The
Wolverines committed only seven turnovers in the three previous quarters
combined.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
#2 - - Deliver Three-Point Blows:
line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> Only six days ago against Tallwood,
the Eagles prevailed 45-40, despite going 0-for-6 from three-point range.
style=> They didn't need the three-point shot that
night. Against Woodside, it paid major
dividends for them.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>They sank 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, including 3-for-5
in the fourth quarter. That easily
passed for their best perimeter shooting performance of the year, coming two
days after converting 58% of their shots in a win over Kecoughtan.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We can shoot it, we just don't shoot it a lot,"
Robinson noted. "There's a reason why I
had Daryus
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Evans in the game because he's our
best shooter. The moment he got it in
that corner I was saying 'Shoot it, shoot it, shoot it, shoot
it.' Once he gets his feet set, it's
pretty good."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Evans' three-pointer with 38.7 seconds left cut the
deficit from four to one. Pringle's
class=GramE>3's pulled Landstown within four
and three points with under two minutes to go when Woodside's fans were gearing
up to celebrate a victory.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Pringle came up huge for us with those 3's for us,"
Robinson added. "I told him before the
game, 'Man, can you please show up tonight?
You've been bad for the last couple games and we really need something
out of you.' He really did and then he
fouled out and felt bad when he did. I
said, 'Hey man, it is what is. We're
going to keep playing.'
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
#3 - - Control Orlina:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> In the first half, the 6-foot-5
class=SpellE>Orlina proved to be a matchup problem like he has been for
most every team they've faced this season.
He can score inside or out, and attacks the glass effectively.
style=> Bolstad finished up
with eight points on only six shot attempts, a big difference from his
dominating 29-point, 15-rebound effort in the victory over Kecoughtan
two days prior.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Part of why Bolstad didn't
put up similar numbers was he got called for his fourth foul with 6:08 left in
the third quarter, sending him to the bench.
Woodside didn't take advantage though, and Orlina
didn't make a single shot the entire second half.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Even with Bolstad forced to
the bench, the Eagles managed to keep Orlina from
dominating around the cup. Credit
class=SpellE>thei supporting cast and subs like
normal'>Owen Obasuyi, a football player headed to
Hampton University.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"You've got to remember, we played the
class=SpellE>Tallwood game 12 minutes without [Bolstad] and we were holding
on," Robinson noted. "Owen played really
well in his place, missed a couple lay-ups there, but rebounded
the ball well and helped us out for that 5-6 minute stretch.
style=> Tonight, we had our additional scorer Pringle
come through with some buckets for us that were huge."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none'>Postgame Audio with Landstown Coach Dwight
Robinson
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Stats:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Landstown
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> Eagles 53:
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>
115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
(22-4)
Brandon Pringle - - 14Pts. 5-10FG, 4-5 3's, 5Reb. 4Ast.
Xavier Cooper - - 10Pts. 2-4FG, 5-7FT, 4Ast. 2Stl.
R.J. Nicholson - - 9Pts. 4-10FG, 2Reb.
Darius Bolstad - - 8Pts. 4-6FG, 9Reb.
Tyriq Nady - - 6Pts. 2-4FG, 2Reb.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Woodside
Wolverines 51:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> (22-4)
Devante Carter - - 16Pts. 7-15FG, 2-6FT, 4Reb. 3Ast. 4Stl.
Chris Orlina - - 14Pts. (13Pts. 1st Half), 4-8FG,
6-11FT, 10Reb.
Rashaan Johnson - - 8Pts. 2-3FG, 4-9FT, 4Reb. 2Blk.
2Stl.
Ray Jackson - - 6Pts. 3-6FG, 2Reb.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
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