Sunday, February 28, 2010
Barnettes lead Salem's attack on Bassett
Salem 63, Bassett 53
varsity.roanoke.com
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DUBLIN -- The beauty of the Virginia High School League playoff basketball set-up is that Stephen Barnette knew his career wouldn't come to an end Saturday night in the Region IV Division 4 championship game.
It's coming soon enough, though.
"I've been thinking about that," said Barnette, who has signed a letter-of-intent to play football for the University of Richmond. "Matter of fact, I was thinking about it when I went to sleep last night. It's going to be tough to give it up. I cherish the time we've got left."
Barnette assisted on Salem's first three baskets of the night and was on triple-double pace before finishing with 23 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in the Spartans' 63-53 victory over Bassett.
Barnette's 6-foot-3 twin brother, Reggie, added 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Salem got all of its scoring from four players.
"They're a handful," said Bassett coach Tom Herring of the Barnette twins. "There's just so many different ways they can hurt you."
Salem led by as many as 12 points in the first half, 21-9, but there was no quit in the Bengals, who were in a tie game at 49-49 with 4 12 minutes remaining.
Stephen Barnette restored Salem's lead on a field goal with 4:20 left; then, with the Spartans clinging to a 53-51 lead, he scored again to put Salem ahead by four with 3:05 left.
"I thought we started to rush on offense," said Herring, whose Bengals did not have a field goal during the last 3:45.
Bassett (15-8) will meet Region III champion Broadway next weekend at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. Salem (19-6) will play host to Region III runner-up Spotswood at the Salem Civic Center.
"Regardless of whether this was an elimination game or not, I think the guys who were on the varsity [in 2009] remembered the regional finals last year," Stephen Barnette said. "We lost to Hidden Valley and we didn't want that to happen again. This year, we wanted to take care of business."
It should be noted that the loss in the 2009 regional final didn't prevent the Spartans from getting all the way to the Division 4 final, where they were beaten by Spotsylvania.
Salem suffered some significant graduation losses, "but I think we're closer as a unit," Barnette said.
Sophomore Isaac Belton contributed 13 points, including a late steal and layup that gave the Spartans a four-point lead at 53-49, and junior Seth Carroll had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Bassett had one double-figure scorer, senior Anton McGill, with 15 points.
At one point, Herring motioned to his players that they should make Reggie Barnette shoot from outside and not let him drive to the hoop, but Reggie was 6-of-11 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and the twins were 7-of-8 from the line in the fourth quarter.
"My brother worked on his jump shot all summer," Stephen Barnette said. "That's been his secret weapon. We're not just slashers. Well, maybe he isn't just a slasher."
Reggie will join Richmond's football team as a walk-on and Spider fans should be excited about a high-wire act that produced four second-half dunks, two by each of the Barnettes.
"Going into high school, we were basketball players," Stephen said. "Coming out, people think of us as football players, but we've still got a lot of basketball in us."
BASSETT (15-8)
Chitwood 3 0-0 6, Bady 1 0-1 2, McGill 6 3-3 15, Rumley 4 0-0 8, Wickline 1 3-4 6, Ramzee 3 0-0 8, Barbour 2 4-5. Totals 20 10-13 53.
SALEM (19-6)
Toliver 0 0-0 0, R. Barnette 6 2-3 15, S. Barnette 8 7-11 23, Belton 5 1-3 13, Carroll 5 1-3 12. Totals 24 11-20 63.
Bassett 9 16 18 10--53
Salem 13 19 13 18--63
3-point-goals -- Bassett 3 (Ramzee 2, Wickline), Salem 4 (Belton 2, Carroll, R. Barnette).
