VPL Semi-Finals Recap

The Virginia Prep League Playoffs semi-finals were held at Trinity Episcopal and the top two seeds held serve as #1 St Christophers defeated #4 Woodberry Forest and #2 St Anne's-Belfield defeated #3 Trinity Episcopal.

St Christophers recovered from a slow start to defeat Woodberry Forest 72-53 to advance to the championship game of the Virginia Prep League tournament. Richmond commit Nick Sherod scored 22 points and junior Alexander Petrie added 18 points for the Saints.

Woodberry Forest was poised to pull an upset taking a 15-13 lead after the 1st quarter and playing even with the Saints to go into the locker room with the scored tied at 26.

Justin Jasper started the second half on a good note for the Saints with a steal that led to a Petrie layup to put the Saints up 34-29. A 3-pointer by Eric Thompson extended the lead to 10 (43-33) with around three minutes to go in the 3rd quarter.

Jasper converted a 3-point play igniting an 8-0 run that gave St Christophers a comfortable 55-38 lead. The Tigers were held scoreless for the first three minutes of the 4th quarter.

Sherod added eight rebounds and two blocks to his game-high of 22 points while Petrie had three assists and two treys to go along with his 18 points. Jasper finished with 14 points and three steals while post player Ameer Bennett scored 5 of his 6 points in the 1st quarter while adding four boards.

Woodberry Forest received 18 points, six rebounds and two blocks from sophomore Max Johns while Joe Foley added 11 points for the Tigers.

It took St Anne's-Belfield a quarter to get started but after a slow start they dominated the rest of the game do defeat Trinity Episcopal 65-45. The Saints reached the Virginia Prep League semi-finals where they will face St Christophers.

The game went back and forth early on. Jalen Harrison brought his A-game early scoring the first six points for the Saints but Trevion Armstrong matched his total to give the Trinity Episcopal a 14-9 after the 1st quarter.

Matt Palumbo came off the bench in the second quarter to energize a static Saints offense by draining three treys; the second of which game St Annes-Belfield a 19-16 lead.From there it was the Javin Delaurier show and the Duke commit completely dominated the rest of the game. After scoring only a single basket in the first quarter, he returned to the floor 2nd quarter to score 12 points including an emphatic slam to put St Anne's-Belfield up 30-20 at the halftime break.

The Saints also deployed a shutdown defense to limit Trinity Episcopal to a total of 16 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and their halftime lead doubled to 20 (50-30) heading into the final quarter.

Delaurier added eight more points before heading to the bench for a final time and he finished with 26 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Harrison ended the game with 11 points and five rebounds. Kareem Johnson chipped in eight points and four rebounds while Jayden Nixon scored all six of his points in the 3rd quarter.For

Trinity Episcopal, Nevada football commit Trevion Armstrong led the Titans with 17 points.