By Richard Carrier
Contributing Writer

Powhatan High School boys basketball opened Southside District play with a trip to Bluestone last Wednesday evening. The late-game heroics of Ellis Moore overcame a predictably slow start as the Indians came away with a 60-54 win.

With the football players on the squad trying to find their basketball muscles and re-capture their timing, the Barons made it even more difficult for Powhatan’s prime player, senior Shawn Minor, by defending him with the box and one defense. The Indians still squeezed out an 11-10 first quarter lead.

With Minor forced out of the offensive flow, Powhatan had to rely on someone else to put points on the board. Juniors Deon Berry and Nathan Adams answered the call. As point guard, Berry not only ran the offense, but also contributed seven points in the second quarter. Adams arched in a corner three pointer at the buzzer, enabling the Indians to hold onto their one point lead at the half.

In the third quarter the two squads fought a draw, leaving the winner of the final stanza to decide the outcome. With less than two minutes gone, Bluestone quickly took control and forged a seven point lead. At the six minute mark Head Coach Steve Washburn made a change in the Indians’ defensive strategy, which lit a fire under the offense, particularly Ellis Moore.. “We went to a 1-3-1 three-quarter-court trap, which turned up our energy levels and created opportunities at the offensive end,” Coach Washburn said. Moore seized the moment. The senior forward poured in 11of his 15 points in the final quarter. But on the Amazing Meter, Moore registered 25 rebounds for the game. “I know that number may seem astronomical,” Coach Washburn said, “but we rechecked it and that number is correct. Ellis was very active on the boards ,” he added in a classic understatement. Moore combined with Berry and Minor to smother the Barons defensively and, with two minutes remaining, Powhatan took and held the lead for the win. Moore’s team-high 15 points were complimented by Berry’s 12 and Minor’s 10.

“We left a lot of points at the foul line and, really we didn’t shoot very well overall. We just have to find our confidence and rhythm. Still I think we have a lot of the right pieces in place to become a really good team,” Coach Washburn said.

The Powhatan High School boys junior varsity basketball team invited Benedictine over to play last Thursday evening and were introduced to the precision offense the Cadets have used to achieve top billing for private schools in the Richmond area. It took almost three minutes for the junior Indians to score. In the meantime, on the receiving end of Benedictine’s most lethal weapon; surgically accurate passing, the Cadets’ stocky and less-than-athletic center, John Mosier, got off three flat-footed, point-blank shots. Employing a pass only, four-man weave the Cadets found open post players for a 9-4 first quarter lead and an eventual 50-37 win.
Brent Hiden retaliated for Mosier’s having abused him by dropping in a smooth turn-around jumper. Chris DeLeon’s three and Tyler Connor’s put-back ended a 6-1 run and earned Powhatan a 10-10 tie as the quarter ended.

Powhatan took the second stanza lead on Landon Bradley’s pull-up jumper, but the Cadets took it back on Eddie Bowden’s three. Connor found Jack Wolf cutting to the rim to retake the lead. Benedictine forged a tie at 16 before Connor’s free throw gave the Indians their last lead. The Cadets went to the locker room leading 25-19.
During a very slow third quarter start for both squads the Cadets led 29-21. With three minutes gone in the third, Benedictine committed its first turnover, leading to Wolf’s nice scoring curl . The Cadets’ 8-0 run put them up by twelve. Wolf got four of those back on a put-back and two free throws. Benedictine answered as the clock ran out and led 37-27.

Powhatan opened the final quarter with another Connor offensive rebound and put-back and for the first time in the contest the Indians ramped up their defense. Brandon Mayfield’s steal earned Bradley a run-out bucket. Benedictine’s fourth and last turn-over resulted in Wolf’s turn-around jumper at 37-33.
The Indians gave up an easy bucket on an inbounds play, followed by a Cadet base line drive.

Mayfield responded with his own base line score, but those were Powhatan’s last points. Hinden led the Indians with 12 points. Bradley added eight.
“We need more games to learn as a team,” said Coach Dan Grabill. “But we’ll get better and we will see them again.”