Martinsville 53, Caroline 50

Martinsville withstood a furious Caroline charge to capture the VHSL AA State Championship in a 53-50 nailbiter. Rache Waller's steal with two seconds left preserved the championship for the Bulldogs. Waller's lay-up on a fast break put the Bulldogs up for good 51-50 with :50 left in the game. Kameron King was huge scoring 6 of his game high 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Martinsville took control from the opening tip starting the game on a 10-3 run. The run was fueled by 5 Javon Williamson points. The first quarter ended with a 13-8 lead for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs extended their lead in the second quarter opening up a 12 point lead at one point. Williamson led all scorers with 8 at the break. Rache Waller had 7 points and 4 steals while Kameron King added 7 points and 3 steals. The balanced attack led to a 26-16 for Martinsville.

The Bulldogs opened their biggest lead of the night at 36-20 after back to back three pointers by Waller and Williamson with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter. But Caroline never gave up. Eddie Freeman scored 5 points in an 8-0 spurt by Caroline propelling them back into the game. The teams traded baskets until the end of the quarter. At the end of the three the Martinsville lead stood at 42-32.

Caroline opened the 4th quarter with tons of energy and spirit. With all 5 guys flying all over the court Caroline managed to go on a 10-2 run starting the fourth quarter. Cory Underwood found Walter Covington in the corner for 3 to cap the run, cutting the Martinsville lead to 44-42 with 4 minutes still on the clock. Kameron King answered quickly on the other end for the Bulldogs stretching the lead to 46-42. Caroline kept on coming though, the big man Vicheal Fox converted a lay-up cutting the lead to 46-44. Brandon Freeman stole the inbounds pass and found Charles Samuels in the corner. Samuels drained the 3 sending the Caroline faithful off and giving the Cavaliers their first lead of the game. It capped a 27-10 scoring spurt by Caroline. Kameron King answered for Martinsville and the Bulldogs were able to build their lead back to 2 at 49-47 with 2:09 on the clock. Brandon Freeman found Underwood this time for a huge 3 giving the Cavaliers the lead 50-49 with 1:45 on the clock. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers it would be the last time they scored. Martinsville's Brian Frasier was able to steal the ball from Caroline, he then pushed it ahead quickly to King with 55 seconds on the clock. King got pressured on the lay-up and it rolled off the rim, but Waller was following the play and was able to tip it back in for the Bulldogs. With 15 seconds left Freeman drove the lane trailing 51-50. His shot rolled off the rim and Javon Williamson corraled the rebound. Williamson hit one of two from the line pushing the lead to 52-50 with 13 ticks left. With 5 seconds left Caroline called time-out to set up their last play. The ball came into Cory Underwood who started to drive baseline before the quick hands of Rache Waller took over. Waller was fouled with 2 seconds left and hit one of two free throws pushing the lead to 53-50. Charles Samuels gathered the rebound and flung it full court in a last gasp effort for Caroline. The ball fell short and the Martinsville crowd stormed the court to celebrate the championship victory.

Video Highlights:
Martinsville's Rache Waller
Martinsville's Kameron King
Martinsville's Javon Williamson
Martinsville's Rache Waller
Martinsville's Kameron King
Martinsville's Jermaine Thompson
Martinsville's Rache Waller
Martinsville's Brian Frasier
Martinsville's Javon Williamson
Caroline's Cory Underwood
Caroline's Vicheal Fox
Caroline's Charles Samuels
Caroline's Vicheal Fox