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Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Eastern Montgomery's Julian Stewart (center) grabs a rebound in front of Twin Valley's Lucas Shortridge.

Photo by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Eastern Montgomery's Laquin Khalil (right) rebounds in front of Twin Valley's Adam Keene.

RICHMOND -- Eastern Montgomery High students put one state title in the bag when they won the Scholastic Bowl a few years back.

However, nobody there has ever won any sort of state-level competition involving a ball, muscles, and a sprinkling of sweat.

They'll have that opportunity this afternoon.

The Mustangs boys basketball team staged a stirring second-half comeback, in the process swiping a VHSL Group A Division 1 semifinal from thrice disappointed Twin Valley 67-63 on Thursday at the Siegel Center.

The Mustangs will pause long enough to take a big gulp of air and prepare to engage swift and skillful Colonial Beach for the state crown at 3:45 p.m. today on the same floor. Colonial Beach wore out Altavista 55-36 in its semifinal.

As with its opponent, Colonial Beach has never won a state title in this or any sport.

Eastern Montgomery, which lost 69-62 to Twin Valley in last year's state quarters, came in winners of 11 of its last 13 but was in trouble from the start against the big and disciplined Panthers. Then the eventual victor's defense tightened and Shawn Christian went to work.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore had a career day even though his career has so far been short. Christian scored 22 of his game high 30 points in the second half to rally his team past the Region D runner-up. His defense was as important as his shooting (10-for-19). He keyed an astonishing attacking defensive performance when he had seven of the Mustangs' 17 steals.

"Had to do what I had to do," Christian said. "When they were dribbling down, I watched the ball and just attacked them,"

There are no individual steals records for the tournament in the history books. There is a Group A record for a three-game individual steals performance, and that's 17. Point guard Brad Wooten, another one of EastMont's three sophomore starters, added five thefts to go with seven assists. Wooten also made 5-of-6 foul shots in the last minute as the Mustangs were hanging on against a final Panthers charge.

"I think our legs gave out on us," said Twin Valley coach Brian Moore, whose team has lost in either the state semifinals or finals three times since 2005-06.

"On defense, we're always really aggressive, and ... one thing I think we feed off is getting steals, getting out in transition, forcing the tempo," said Jeff Myers, in his second year as the Mustangs' coach. "Twin Valley is a very fundamental team and they run a great half-court offense. We tried to speed them up a little bit by trapping them before they could get into the half-court."

That worked late, but before the defense got cranking, the Mustangs had a fight on their hands trying to contain Panthers bruisers Josh Smith and Adam Keene down low.

Smith, a 6-2 junior, finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Keene, who goes 6-4 and has the build of an offensive tackle, had only three points, but he added five rebounds and seven of his team's 13 assists.

Julian Stewart, the last of the starting sophomores for EastMont, didn't give away much height but a whole lot of bulk, ended with 14 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes -- the same playing time as senior Henry Hall (11 points, four rebounds, two assists). Christian and Wooten never sat.

Stewart held his ground inside.

"They were a lot stronger," he said. "You had to do what you could do to contest their shots."

The Panthers got a terrific all-around effort from senior Hunter Simpson with 26 points and seven rebounds. Those numbers were offset by his team-high seven turnovers. Twin Valley had 18 turnovers as compared to just nine for the Mustangs.

"They're pretty athletic and they just jumped the passing lanes," Simpson said. "They knew what we were going to do and they made plays. I tip my hat to them. They're an excellent basketball team."

EastMont trailed the entire first half, falling 10 points in arrears early in the second quarter. The Mustangs didn't take their first lead until Christian completed a three-point play with 11.8 second left in the third quarter.

The lead changed hands twice more before EastMont took command for good on a Stewart floater in the lane. Christian added a couple of more field goals down the stretch before it was Wooten's turn to show his foul shooting skills.

Christian turned deadly from the outside in the second half and that was a big factor in the turnaround. He sank four of six shots from beyond the 3-point arc after intermission and went 5-for-9 for the game.

"I make them all the time in practice," he said of such shots. "But in the game, I'm usually too nervous."

TWIN VALLEY (22-6)

Shortridge 5-8 0-0 10, Horne 2-10 0-0 5, Smith 6-8 7-8 19, Simpson 10-22 5-6 26, Keene 1-1 1-2 3, Burniston 0-0 0-0 0, St. Clair 0-0 0-0 0, Adams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-49 13-16 63

EASTERN MONTGOMERY (23-4)

Christian 10-19 4-5 29, Wooten 1-8 5-6 7, Hall 4-9 2-4 11, Stewart 6-12 2-5 14, Khalil 3-8 0-1 6, Sisson 0-0 0-0 0, Motley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-56 13-21 67

Twin Valley 17 16 15 15--63

Eastern Montgomery 9 17 23 18--67

3-point goals -- Twin Valley 2-9 (Shortridge 0-1, Horne 1-2, Simpson 1-6), Eastern Montgomery 6-16 (Christian 5-9, Wooten 0-2, Hall 1-4, Stewart 0-1). Total fouls -- Twin Valley 17, Eastern Montgomery 11. Rebounds -- Twin Valley 37 (Smith 13), Eastern Montgomery 25 (Stewart 8). Assists -- Twin Valley 13 (Keene 7, Eastern Montgomery 12 (Wooten 7). Turnovers -- Twin Valley 18 (Simpson 7), Eastern Montgomery 9 (Christian 3). Blocks -- Twin Valley 3 (Shortridge 2), Eastern Montgomery 3 (Christian, Stewart, Khalil). Steals -- Twin Valley 7 (Simpson 3), Eastern Montgomery 17 (Christian 7).