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Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Salem's Stephen Barnette (12) throws his hands in the air during the final moments of the Spartans' double-overtime win over Hidden Valley in the Group AA Division 4 semifinals.

Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Hidden Valley's Greg Coots (21) grabs a rebound in front of Salem's Reggie Barnette during Wednesday's game at the Siegel Center.

Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Salem's Reggie Barnette (middle) holds teammate and twin brother Stephen Barnette after the Spartans' win.

RICHMOND -- Another day, another River Ridge District boys basketball game.

Except archrivals Salem and Hidden Valley were playing for the sixth time.

Except game time was peculiar: 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Except this was the VHSL Group AA Division 4 state semifinals.

With as much bump as there was grind, the Spartans emerged from an exhausting two overtimes with a 60-54 victory at the Siegel Center.

The Spartans (18-10) won for the fourth time in six outings against the Titans to advance to the 9 p.m. Saturday title game opposite Courtland, which stopped Charlottesville 61-60 Tuesday night. Salem is a four-time AA semifinalist and twice the champion in 1998-99 and 1993-94.

In the six games in the Titans-Spartans series this year, the largest victory margin was eight points.

"There wasn't a whole lot a whole of secrets today, "Salem coach Kevin Garst said.

Hidden Valley (16-14), which lost Virginia Tech-bound Ben Boggs to injury the second game of the regular season, battled against all expectations into the semifinals for the third straight year, each occasion with the same result.

"Losing in the state semis is always terrible," said Hidden Valley's Greg Coots, one of the Titans seniors who'd made three-straight state trips.

The fact that it was Salem added more layers to already tortured emotions.

"With Salem, we know each other, it's always extremely hard," Coots said. "We grew up with the Salem kids playing AAU basketball. It's always been like that: Cave Spring and Hidden Valley kids against Salem kids for any championship in basketball, whether it be AAU or rec league, it's always like that.

"It's hard to lose."

Hardest of all was the task that awaited first-year coach Troy Wells, who'd been head coach for four Martinsville trips to the semifinals and a Bulldogs win over Robert E. Lee-Staunton in the 2005-06 final. Wells had known that former Titans girls coach Brenda King had died the previous night, but that news was withheld from the players as well as the Hidden Valley girls, who had lost 57-45 to Turner Ashby in the semifinal just previous.

"I said, 'This is a tough pill to swallow right here,'" Wells said. "And I said: 'You guys played your hearts out, but there are more important things in life than this basketball game.

"Then I told them about Brenda. She was 45 years old and she's no longer with us, but man, she battled to the very end. That's what life is all about."

A quiet locker room grew even more still, Wells said.

Salem led 44-41 when sophomore Jerome Hairston sank both ends of a one-and-one with 2 minutes, 32 seconds left in regulation before the Titans closed with a 4-1 run, tying the score on a pair of pressure foul shots by post Andrew Morris at 1:29.

Garst then opted to hold for a last shot, but that backfired when the Titans played sticky enough defense to run the clock all the way down. Sickeningly for the Spartans, Donte Harvey drilled what would have been the game-winner, but the basket was waved off because the shot came after time expired. That only would have been Harvey's second field goal of the game. Instead, OT No. 1.

The Spartans looked as though they might pull it out when Reggie Barnette slashed to the goal to make it 48-45 with 2:35 left in the first overtime. Titans point guard Chad Earhart then buried his only trey of the game to knot it at 48 with 2:13 showing.

Again, Salem held for a last shot. This time, Hairston did the honors, slicing down the right side of the lane, eluding defenders as he made his way into what appeared to be an uncontested layup.

But Titan Zach Barrett, another of the state tournament veterans, turned at the last second to block the shot of the already passed Hairston.

"We had a play set, but the play didn't make it," Hairston said. "I saw there was 4 seconds on the clock, so I just drove. I saw [teammate Travis McDaniel] on the other side, and I was actually going to throw it to Travis. I probably shouldn't have thrown up the shot, I don't know. It was just quick thinking that didn't work out."

The score was knotted 48-48 to start the second OT then Stephen Barnette scored the last four of his 11 points. That was part of a 6-1 early blitz. Hidden Valley fought back behind Coots, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Barrett, who scored on consecutive possessions.

Barrett's triple with 56 seconds left made it 56-54, Salem, but the Titans never scored again. Reggie Barnette beat the press for a layup then Hairston did the same, closing the scoring and the Titans' improbable campaign with a dunk.

Hairston led the winners with 21 points including 4-for-7 shooting from distance.

He also sank seven of 10 foul shots, the team 21 of 31, outscoring Hidden Valley, whose 19 field goals were two more than the Spartans, by eight at the stripe.

Stephen Barnette, Reggie's twin, also had 12 rebounds. The Spartans edged Hidden Valley 31-29 in rebounding. Salem had 16 offensive rebounds to the Titans' 14.

"I've said all along, and I told Kevin, that they're the most athletic team in our district," Wells said.

Barrett was terrific for Hidden Valley, finishing with a game-high 25 points, five rebounds and four steals. He conceded that things didn't look promising after Boggs was hurt during a 62-51 win at Northside in Game 2 of the year.

"We were still kind of shocked for a few games," Barrett said. "Losing him, we've all played together since we were real little. He was a big key for our offense and defense. I knew it would take time for us to readjust. But I knew that if all of us worked hard, I knew we wouldn't give up. There's always a possibility."

Through the best part of two overtimes Wednesday, that possibility endured.

"In the six games we played, nobody has taken more than a six or eight-point lead," Garst said.

"In the district tournament, we won by eight, but it was a lot closer than the final score. What it comes down to is who makes shots, who gets breaks. It's players making plays."

SALEM (18-10)

R. Barnette 2-7 5-8 9, S. Barnette 5-11 1-2 11, Harvey 1-8 2-2 4, Hairston 5-8 7-10 21, McDaniel 1-3 2-4 4, Tolliver 0-0 0-0 0, Carroll 0-1 0-0 0, Wade 1-3 2-2 4, Pendleton 2-2 2-3 7. 17-43 21-31 60

HIDDEN VALLEY (16-14)

Barrett 10-21 3-5 25, Coots 2-7 8-10 12, Earhart 2-5 0-0 5, Aiken 3-8 0-0 6, Morris 2-5 2-2 6, Yim 0-0 0-0 0, Worrell 0-2 0-0 0, Hans 0-0 0-0 0, Rowe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-48 13-17 54

Salem 11 12 13 9 3 12--60

Hidden Valley 8 16 12 9 3 6 --54

3-point goals -- Salem , 5-15 (R. Barnette 0-1, Harvey 0-4, Hairston 4-7, Carroll 0-1, Wade 0-1, Pendleton 1-1), Hidden Valley 3-16 (Barrett 2-7, Earhart 1-2, Aiken 0-3, Morris 0-2, Worrell 0-2). Total fouls -- Salem 16, Hidden Valley 20. Fouled out -- Morris, Earhart. Rebounds -- Salem 31 (S. Barnette 12), Hidden Valley 29 (Coots 9). Assists -- Salem 11 (R. Barnette, S. Barnette 3), Hidden Valley 10 (Earhart, Aiken 3. Turnovers -- Salem 12 (S. Barnette 4), Hidden Valley 11 (Aiken 4). Blocks --Salem 4 (S. Barnette 3), Hidden Valley 3 (Barrett 2). Steals -- Salem 6 (S. Barnette, Harvey, Hairston 2), Hidden Valley 8 (Barrett 4).