The Union Bears jumped out to a 15-2 lead, including scoring the game's first ten points, and never looked back as they won the Class 2 state title over East Rockingham by a count of 62-47 in Big Stone Gape on Sunday afternoon. It marked the first ever State Championship for Union, which concluded its season 16-3 overall, and Head Coach, Zack Moore.
Sophomore forward Sean Cusano had a double-double with his 24 points and 11 rebounds. Cusano was hot shooting the basketball in the first half with 18 points on 5-of-7 from behind three-point line. He came in with 27 made 3's on the year.
Cusano got plenty of help, too. Junior forward Bradley Bunch also had a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Bunch found success in the second half to keep East Rock from drawing close, helping limit the Eagles to one shot while converting at the other end, even utilizing the sky-hook for one of his baskets.
Senior guard Alex Rasnick, who drilled the big tie-breaking three-pointer in the fourth quarter of the State Semis against Radford and has more than 1000 points in his career with the Bears, chipped in with 15 points and six boards.
East Rockingham (10-3) got a game-high 28 points from Tyler Nickel, rated by Rivals among the Top 100 prospects nationally in the Class of 2022. That brings Nickel's career point total to 1902, meaning that if he scores 900 points as a senior, he will break the VHSL career scoring record set by Gate City grad Mac McClung, now of Texas Tech. Nickel also had eight rebounds.
Senior forward Kyle Evick added eight points and six boards in his final game in an East Rock uniform. Cooper Keyes, son of Eagles Head Coach Carey Keyes, added six points in the losing effort.
Union led the entire contest with the closest East Rockingham run coming at the beginning of the second quarter when they clawed to 21-16. From there, the Bears would then stretch their lead to 36-26 at intermission. They would outscore East Rock 15-11 to up their margin to thirteen points, 50-37, going into the final period.
Inside the Numbers:
Union - 21, 15, 14, 12 = 62
East Rock - 15, 11, 11, 10 =47
Union - Cusano 24, Bunch 16, Rasnick 15, Jordan 5, Jenkins 2
East Rock - Nickel 28, Keyes 6, Evick 8, Williams 3, Butler 2
3-PT. Goals - Union - 6 (Cusano 5, Jordan), East Rock - 8 (Nickel 4, Keyes 2, Evick, Williams)
Total FG's - Union - 20, East Rockingham - 17
FT's- Union - 16-21, East Rock - 5-8
Total Fouls - Union - 13, East Rockingham - 19
