RICHMOND – For the second straight year, Grafton High’s boys basketball team’s season ended with a loss in the Group AA Division 4 state championship game.
The Clippers, who cooled off considerably following a red-hot start, fell 56-48 against Salem Saturday night at VCU’s Siegel Center.
It was second game in a row that the Clippers’ offense struggled to maintain its rhythm for a full 32 minutes, although Grafton coach Jeremy Jordan passed all the credit to a Spartans team that had been as hot as anyone recently with 17 straight wins entering Saturday following a 4-8 start to the season.
Football stars Matt Hill, a 6-foot-5 quarterback who will join Virginia Tech as a preferred walk-on in the fall, and Alex Light were absent during Salem’s slow start to the season while competing in the state football playoffs. On the court Saturday, both showed just how much each of their presences were missed early in the year.
Hill led the Spartans with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Light, who at 6-5, 300 pounds is anything other than his name suggests down low, added a 14-point, 14-rebound double. Together, they shot an efficient 13-19 from the floor and were the main reason Salem outscored Grafton 30-14 in the paint.
“I thought Alex Light and Matt Hill were huge tonight,” Jordan said after the game. “A concern of mine coming in was keeping them out of the paint. When you make 17 free throws and score [34] points in the paint, most everything they got was high percentage and came from an efficient possession.”
Outside of the opening minutes of the game when Grafton jumped out to a 9-0 lead, the Clippers were denied any penetration deep inside the lane and thus settled for jump shots, which, at least on this night, did not fall.
In fact little of anything that Grafton threw at the bucket went in as the Clippers shot just 18-49 (36.7 percent) from the floor including 5-22 (22.7 percent) and only 7-16 (43.8 percent) from the free-throw line. Leading scorer Elijah Moore, who struggled for every one of his game-high 21 points, was defended well by Salem’s Troy Mann and limited to 8-18 shooting.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight, but those things happen,” Jordan said. “Outside of the first three minutes, I thought [Salem] outplayed us the rest of the game.”
What proved costly were two runs by Salem at the end of the second and third periods.
After Moore scored nine of his 21 points in the opening period as Grafton led 16-10, the Clippers’ offense was held to just five points in the second quarter. Despite the stagnant offense in the period, Grafton still held a 21-20 lead with under a minute to play in the half before a turnover resulted in a 5-0 run by the Spartans to close out the quarter and take a 25-21 lead into the break.
And with a half-minute to play in the third quarter, miscommunication on a Salem inbounds play under its own basket resulted in an and-one finish for Hill that put the Spartans up five points (36-31) rather than two heading into the final period.
“I thought there were a few pivotal possessions where we needed to get stops or be a little more efficient,” Jordan said about the ends to the second and third quarters. “We didn’t make those plays and they did.”
Salem quickly stretched its lead to 40-31 on a made basket by Hill and two free throws from Mann. The Spartans led by as many as 11 with 3:30 left in regulation before Moore sparked a brief comeback for Grafton with a couple free throws followed by a deep 3-pointer from the wing to trim the Clippers’ deficit to seven, 45-38, but that was as close as they would get.
Salem was efficient in its half-court offense down the stretch and forced Grafton to play the foul game. The Spartans would hit 14-17 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep their distance and hold.
“In a game like this, against a quality team like this, the little things are what can come back and bite you,” Jordan added. “I just think Salem was a little bit better tonight.”
Jordan was quick to acknowledge how proud he was though of his senior core of Moore, Tyler McMillan and Jesse Santiago for leading the Clippers to their only two appearances in the state championship in school history the past two seasons, but more importantly, for helping put Grafton High on the map.
“It’s been an unbelievable journey with this group,” Jordan said. “To finish 28-3 and get back to the final four and make it back to the state championship is an unbelievable accomplishment.
“What we’ve been trying to do here is establish some basketball tradition at a school that’s never had any, and the hard work these guys and the entire team has put into the past few years has paved the way for us to have chances like tonight and play on the big stage. It hurts right now, but these three sitting beside me have accomplished a tremendous amount as three of the six seniors on the basketball team.”
Said Santiago, “Obviously it’s a good accomplishment, [reaching] the state championship twice. It wasn’t our goal to lose twice, but we’re still proud of it. It was a good run.”
Added McMillan, “I think we accomplished a lot; had a pretty good record…I hope they can get back next year.”
Salem 56 Grafton 48
Salem- 10 15 11 20 – 56
Grafton- 16 5 10 17 – 48
Salem (22-8)- Hill 20, Light 14, Mann 11, Repass 6, Pratt 3, McDaniel 2. Totals 18-40 17-24; 56.
Grafton (28-3)- Moore 21, Santiago 11, McMillan 6, Miller 5, Sperling 3, Jessup 2. Totalas 18-49 7-16; 48.
