By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
** Re-live Saturday’s VHSL AAA State Quarterfinal in 13 minutes with the video player below.
Northern Region champion T.C. Williams strolled into Robinson High early Saturday evening, dressed in matching navy blue blazers and corresponding headphones in preparation for what they thought would be a 6 p.m. tip-off against Eastern Region runner-up King’s Fork.
What it found, instead, was a blackout.
The stands were full, but the lights at Robinson High — host to three Virginia state quarterfinal basketball games on Saturday — had been out for more than an hour-and-a-half.
What ensued after the unexpected delay, though, was a very different kind of lights-out performance.
“It actually worked a little to our advantage,” Titans’ third-year Coach Ivan Thomas said. “I told them, ‘Stay focused.’ We’ve been through too much — stall ball and physical ball and you know what? A little power outage ain’t going to hurt us.”
And it most certainly did not.
Top-ranked T.C. Williams, which led by just two points at half time, outscored the Bulldogs by 18 points over the final 16 minutes of play in what proved a dominating, 59-39 victory over King’s Fork.
With the win, the Titans (27-3) advance to the Virginia AAA Final Four at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center.
T.C. Williams will meet Petersburg from the Central Region at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in its semifinal pairing. The other Group AAA semifinal between Bethel (Eastern Region) and John Marshall (Central Region) will be played at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, with the championship game set for 8:45 p.m. on Friday night.
No team from the Northern Region has claimed a state title since Lee did in 1981 — nearly a decade before any of the current Titans were even born. But T.C. Williams superb senior sixth-man Travis Berry says the Titans are ready to buck that trend.
“This team is very capable because, like I said before, we play as a team,” Berry said. “And when you have a team that plays as a team, there’s nothing you can do to stop them.”
Such teamwork was evident Saturday, when Berry came off the bench to lead the Titans with a game-high 22 points, including four shots from beyond the three-point arc. Seven other Titans scored in the game, including junior guard Edward Jenkins (11 points).
Leading by two early in the third quarter, the Titans scored 12 unanswered points to break open a 40-26 lead with 3 minutes, 47 seconds to play on a run that included 3-pointers by Berry and senior swingman Anthony Winbush, a putback by sophomore forward Ryan Yates and a fast break layup — plus a pair of free throws — by Jenkins.
But even more important than its offensive balance was the stingy defense played by the entire T.C. Williams team. The Titans rotated players on King’s Fork standouts Jaquon Parker and Jamar Wertz, holding them to nine points a piece.
“We just click together,” Thomas said. “We just play team basketball. I’m so pleased. And that — that’s an impressive victory. That’s the Eastern Region, and that’s against two very good players in Wertz and Parker. They’ve been giving the Eastern Region fits all year long, but we can get after it on defense a little bit.
“That’s going to be the difference, period. Who can lock up? Who can play defense? And I knew that would be the difference tonight. I’m very proud of them. Whatever happens, I’m proud of them.”
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
King’s Fork 14 10 6 9 — 39
No. 1 T.C. Williams 15 11 17 16 — 59
King’s Fork — Patterson 3 0-0 6; Riddick 0 0-2 0; Wertz 2 5-5 9; Parker 2 5-6 9; Copeland 5 5-9 15. Team totals: 12 15-22 39. T.C. Williams — Campbell 1 1-2 3; Winbush 3 0-0 7; Berry 8 2-2 22; Via 2 0-0 4; Dickinson 0 0-1 0; Jenkins 4 2-2 11; Jordan 4 0-0 8; Yates 1 0-0 2; Camara 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 24 5-7 59. Three-pointers — T.C. Williams 6 (Berry 4, Jenkins, Winbush).
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