Salem 64, Gar-Field 57

Lynchburg, VA - Antonio Johnson scored 8 points in a 10-0 run during the 4th quarter that helped Salem pull away from Gar-Field and claim the VHSL AAA State Championship.

Salem started out hot behind point guard John Gilchrist's 9 first quarter points they led 16-10 after one. In the second quarter Salem began to pull away. Antonio Johnson scored 9 points in the second quarter and Jacoby Key worked hard on the glass and had 3 big blocked shots for the Sun Devils. John Gilchrist scored back to back fast break lay-ups with just over 2 minutes left in the half that propelled the Sun Devils to their biggest lead at 36-19. Gar-Field called time-out to regroup and it seemed to help. Out of the time-out Akeem Scott scored a driving bucket and found David Hooper for 2 three pointers. The 8-2 run cut the Salem lead to 38-27 at half-time.

Gar-Field played great in the third outscoring Salem 14-6. David Hooper had a great quarter scoring 8 points. Akeem Scott added 5 of his own and Gar-field trailed by just 3, 44-41 after the quarter.

That momentum carried over to the fourth for the Indians. Hooper scored a quick deuce cutting the lead to 1 at 44-43. On Salem's next posession Jamar Atkinson poked it away from his man and heaved it up to Akeem Scott who finished the play with a lay-up giving Gar-field it's first lead of the game at 45-44. It didn't take long for Salem to answer. The answer was Antonio Johnson. Antonio drained a three from the right wing giving the Sun Devils the lead back for good. Johnson scored 8 points in the next two minutes spurning a 10-0 run by Salem giving them a commanding 54-45 lead with just over 4 minutes left on the clock. After a Ryan Smith 3 pointer Gar-field cut the lead to just 4 at 56-52 with 1:30 remaining. That's as close as the Indians would get due to outstanding shooting by the Sun Devils. Salem knocked down 10 out of 11 free throws in the last 2 minutes of the game preventing any comeback hopes that Gar-Field had. Antonio Johnson had a brilliant game scoring 21 points, grabbing 7 boards and dishing out 4 assists. Point Guard John Gilchrist had another stellar outing scoring 17, grabbing a remarkable 10 rebounds from the guard spot, and dishing out 6 assists. Jacoby Key provided the inside muscle scoring 15 points, yanking down 8 boards and swatting 3 shots. David Hooper and Akeem Scott performed great for Gar-Field in the losing cause scoring 21 and 19 points respectively.

Video Highlights:
Salem's Jacoby Key
Salem's Antonio Johnson
Salem's Jacoby Key
Salem's Antonio Johnson
Salem celebrates state title
Garfield's Akeem Scott
Garfield's David Hooper
Garfield's Akeem Scott
Garfield's Q.J. Melchior
Garfield's Ryan Smith