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Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Cave Spring's Clay Lacy (left) has his shot contested by Liberty's Carlton Payne during Tuesday's game in Richmond.

Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Cave Spring's Clay Lacy (left) has his shot contested by Liberty's Carlton Payne during Tuesday's game in Richmond.

Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Cave Spring's boys basketball team celebrates its VHSL Group AA Division 3 semifinal win over Liberty at midcourt of the Siegel Center.

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RICHMOND -- The last time Cave Spring played for a VHSL basketball championship, Bryant Stith presented the trophy to a victorious Brunswick team.

Now the Knights will try to get it back.

Cave Spring reached its first state final since losing the Group AA crown in 2003 as the Knights recovered from an eight-point second-half deficit to outlast Liberty 58-51 in a Division 3 semifinal at VCU's Siegel Center.

Cave Spring (24-6) next has a date in Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game against Brunswick, which is making its third straight appearance in a state final under Stith, its famed alumnus turned head coach.

When Brunswick edged the Knights 49-47 for the 2003 Group AA title in Lynchburg, the VHSL had the former Virginia All-American and ex-NBA standout serving as a celebrity presenter.

"I might have to ask for his autograph," Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks said. "He was a heck of a player. I always admired him at UVa. He did it the right way. Now he's coached three teams and all of them have made it to the state championship, so he's obviously a tremendous coach."

Cave Spring will shoot for its second state title and first since J.J. Redick led the 2002 team to the Group AAA championship.

Tuesday, the Knights were teetering on the brink of elimination as Liberty led 37-29 with 2:14 left in the third quarter. Moreover, Hicks had three reserves on the floor, as he gave a few starters some posterior motivation on the bench.

"I've got a lot of confidence in those guys," Hicks said. "And honestly, at that point in time, the guys that I had taken out weren't getting the job done.

"Obviously, the first three quarters we didn't play great basketball. We just kept telling ourselves, 'We have to be Cave Spring. We can't be somebody else. We have to play the way we're capable of.'"

In the fourth quarter, Hicks saw a familiar sight. His team started making shots.

Clay Lacy opened the floodgates with a 3-pointer from the key after a kickout pass from Josh Henderson, cutting the deficit to 37-34.

"That was the probably the biggest shot of the game," Cave Spring guard Adam Hager said.

Hager had two of his own.

After two free throws by Mark Overstreet cut Liberty's lead to 37-36, Hager drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner. Senior guard Greg Mackey added an acrobatic drive, then Hager buried another 3-pointer from the same spot to close a 13-2 run and lead Cave Spring up 44-39 with 4:47 to play.

"He's hit big shots from the corner for us all year long," Hicks said. "When that ball left his hand, I grabbed both my assistants on the knee and said, 'That's good.'"

Liberty (22-7) regained the lead at 45-44 thanks to a pair of jumpers by Ryan Nichols, but the Minutemen could not keep Cave Spring off the foul line in the final three minutes.

First, Hager hit two. Then 6-foot-11 Josh Henderson, who scored 17 points and made all seven of his foul shots, sank a pair. Then Lacy hit two more, followed by a pair from Mackey.

The Knights made 10 straight free throws in the fourth quarter and finished 20 of 23 for the game.

"Our starting five, everybody is above 70 percent," Hicks said. "We have three guys above 80 percent. Adam Hager shoots above 90 percent. We've done that all year long."

Meanwhile, Liberty made just 13 of 22 overall and had four straight empty possessions down the stretch. Cave Spring built the lead to 55-47 with 48.9 seconds left, and the Minutemen's first shot at a state final since 1998 was all but gone.

"Just getting here is an honor," Liberty coach Jeff Monroe said. "A lot of people don't realize that. It really hurts that we have to finish it like this. We've got a lot of 'heartbroke' kids in there, but they're happy that they had a heck of a year.

"I didn't pay to get into it, but I know anybody that had to pay tonight saw a heck of a basketball game. It's a shame somebody had to lose. But hats off to Cave Spring tonight. They did the job."

Hager finished with 15 points for the Knights, while Lacy added 13 points and eight boards.

Nichols led Liberty with 12 points, while senior Kordero Thompson added 10. Payne, playing on a tender ankle, picked up two early fouls and finished with eight points. Liberty star Chris Harmon hit just 3 of 15 shots and scored eight points.

"It hurts," Thompson said. "We worked all those hours since last year just trying to make it mean something again. We made a [heck of a] run this year. We gave it our all on the court."

Mackey, who missed most of the early part of the season with two ankle injuries, had to wonder if his 2008-09 season would end in a state final.

"After those injuries I kind of lost a little confidence in myself, but I think the team grew stronger," Mackey said. "Everyone's confidence picked up after that. I don't know if we would have been where we are with some of the guys."

Cave Spring boarded a bus back to Roanoke after the game and plans to return Friday for Saturday's game, the first Division 3 final under the VHSL's new divisional format.

"I tell them all the time: 'Big dreams, narrow focus.'" Hicks said. "If they're not dreaming about it all the time, there's no way we could have gotten here."

LIBERTY (22-7)

Thompson 2-5 6-9 10, Nichols 6-9 0-0 12, Payne 3-8 1-2 8, Gilchrist 0-2 0-0 0, Harmon 3-15 3-6 9, Sparrow 1-5 1-1 3, Reynolds 2-7 2-4 6, Martin 1-2 0-0 3, Blake 0-0 0-0 0, Hayden 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-53 13-22 51.

CAVE SPRING (24-6)

Overstreet 1-4 5-8 7, Lacy 5-13 2-2 13, Henderson 5-7 7-7 17, Mackey 2-3 2-2 6, Hager 4-7 4-4 15, Dill 0-2 0-0 0, Jacobsen 0-3 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 20-23 58.

Liberty 13 13 11 14--51

Cave Spring 12 9 10 27--58

3-point-goals -- Liberty 2-14 (Martin 1-2, Payne 1-3, Reynolds 0-4, Harmon 0-5), Cave Spring 4-12 (Hager 3-5, Lacy 1-2, Overstreet 0-1, Mackey 0-1, Jacobsen 0-1, Dill 0-2). Rebounds -- Liberty 34 (Thompson 7), Cave Spring 29 (Henderson 9). Assists -- Liberty 8 (Gilchrist, Thompson, Payne 2), Cave Spring 12 (Overstreet, Mackey, Henderson 3). Total fouls -- Liberty 18, Cave Spring 17. Fouled out -- none.