RICHMOND - West Point High School's boys basketball team was penalized Thursday for a "swoosh."

The Pointers overcame it with plenty of "whoosh."

Shrugging off a technical foul at the start of the second half for having a Nike emblem on its uniforms, West Point made it moot by running away for a 62-53 Group A Division 1 semifinal victory over Parry McCluer.

West Point used pressure defense and a solid 10-man rotation to force 22 Parry McCluer turnovers and book a spot opposite Altavista in Friday's 3:45 p.m. semifinal.

The Pointers (21-4) were nothing else like the Fighting Blues had seen throughout the 2012-13 season.

"The only people we played similar to that was at basketball camps, Goochland and E.C. Glass and that type of teams," Parry McCluer coach nelson Fox said. "During the regular season, we haven't played any team with that type of pressure, really getting in your face and creating that much havoc."

West Point coach Geoff McCulloch saw plenty of that style of play when he was an assistant coach under Mark Hanks at Pulaski County. McCulloch, now in his second season at West Point after a short stint as Pulaski's head coach, lost his first nine games In 2011-12 after taking over the program.

"It was pretty toxic," McCulloch said. "I got lucky. These kids were hungry to do something different than what had been done there before.

"We went to camp this summer and started thinking we should have some pretty lofty goals."

Parry McCluer (21-7) was bidding for its first berth in a state final since 1994, before any of the current Fighting Blues was born.

"We just wanted to get here and we did," Parry McCluer senior guard Charlie Fitzgerald said. "Our plans just got stopped short."

Parry McCluer led early at 6-3, but West Point forced 10 turnovers on 12 Fighting Blues possessions to run out to a 16-6 lead.

Fitzgerald couldn't explain the slow start.

"I don't know," he said. "I guess we were just nervous at first. Just throwing the ball away. It took a while getting used to their press."

Parry McCluer began attacking the fullcourt traps with long passes, cutting the deficit to 26-20 at halftime.

When West Point took the floor for the third quarter, the public address announcer reported that the Pointers had been assessed a technical foul for a "uniform violation."

Unlike Salem in Tuesday's Group AA Division 4 semifinal, this one was not for failing to wear a white uniform as the home team. West Point was hit for having a Nike "swoosh" on its jerseys.

McCulloch said it was the first time all year his team was penalized for the violation, which apparently went undetected at the beginning of the game.

"Had it all year and then got it called on us in the final four," McCulloch said. "Yeah, that's all.

"I think we're going to go to the store and get some fabric tape, and we're going to place the fabric tape over the swoosh so as not to get another technical."

Parry McCluer cashed in on West Point's mistake, immediately cutting the lead to 26-24 on two free throws Sam Armstrong and a bucket by Josh Perry.

However, West Point answered as two 3-pointers by Gabriel Lee and two baskets by Jamie Wilson helped push the lead back to 44-31.

Wilson, who transferred from an independent school - Christchurch - in the middle of the year, scored a game-high 15 points off the bench.

"I've been living here my whole life," Wilson said. "I've been growing up with these guys since I was small. I decided to come back and play with my best friends and make the best of it."

Despite the 13-point deficit, Parry McCluer refused to go away.

The Pioneer District champs opened the fourth quarter on a 13-3 run, beginning with a3-pointer by Fitzgerald and buckets by Armstrong and Perry. A three-point play by Tanner Fix and a 3-pointer by Armstrong cut the lead to 52-46 and Parry McCluer was back in the game.

"Our kids fought really hard," Fox said. "We just had too many turnovers tonight. We fought and hung in there at the last, but they are just very, very quick going 10 deep."

Parry McCluer's rally ended when West Point's L.A. Allen hit six straight free throws to put the Pointers back up 58-48 with 2:39 left.

"We really didn't want to foul him," Fox said. "We had a couple kids we were trying to foul, but we couldn't get to them."

Fox called a timeout with two seconds to play after Ryheem Dawson hit a 3-pointer. He did not use the extra time to tell his team good-bye.

" 'Fight to zero-zero, get a steal, hit a 'three,' cut it to six,' " Fox said of his message. " 'Keep playing to the end.' That's their motto almost year long. Just keep playing to the end. Whatever happens, happens. This team has done that all year long."

Fox said Parry McCluer was unable to practice Wednesday because the Buena Vista school lost power because of the snowstorm.

There was no power failure in terms of community support, even last week after the Fighting Blues lost in the Region C final to Bland County.

"Where else would it be coming in at 12 o'clock at night like we did last week and have the fire department, the rescue squad, the police department with lights blaring, taking you to the school?" Fox said.

"That's really special when you can lose a game and get that type of support."

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