By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, Va. — ‘Why not us?’
That was the question asked by Graham head coach Glynn Carlock Jr. after the G-Men advanced to the Region 2A West semifinals with a convincing 77-60 victory over Gate City on Monday night at Graham Middle School.
Up next on Wednesday night at Richlands Middle School is Martinsville (22-6), which hammered Buckingham County 91-34 in another quarterfinal game. The winner advances to the regional finals on Thursday, and the 2A state tournament next week in Richmond.
“It is going to mean the world to us to pack the gym out at Richlands against a dynamic Martinsville team, which has like 13 state titles, but why not, why not us right now?” Carlock said. “Why not, these guys have been together, why not?
“If we get in here and get our game plan together tomorrow and get ready to go, why not? They are going to have to make the long drive up here, we will see how the chips fall, I will take my guys any day of the week.”
Graham used a 13-2 run at the end of the second quarter to build a 12-point lead, and Gate City (18-8) could never get the margin back to single digits in the second half.
“We couldn’t buy a shot early in the third, but that is a good team,” said Gate City head coach Scottie Vermillion, whose Blue Devils defeated Graham in the state quarterfinals two years again in Wise. “That team is an old team, they have experienced a couple of tough losses at the end of seasons, but they put a good game together tonight.”
Definitely. Senior point guard Tony Hood had his usual complete game, contributing 23 points, six assists, three rebounds, two steals and even blocked three shots.
“I am proud of Tony, we expected that of him,” Carlock said. “We felt like we had a definite mismatch on the guy guarding Tony, and we wanted to exploit that mismatch. I thought Tony did a fantastic job of taking the ball to the basket and doing what he does and I am proud of him.”
Fellow senior Colby Hill added 21 points, including four of Graham’s seven 3s, along with four assists and two rebounds, while sophomore Nick Morgan added 20 points and three boards in one of his better games.
“I just wanted to help my teammates out because I haven’t really played really great all year,” Morgan said. “This was the game to do it.”
While Graham connected on 52.4 percent (11-21) of its shots in the first half, the Blue Devils were 6-13 in the first period to take a 14-13 lead, but made just two field goals in the second quarter, falling behind 36-24 at the break.
Gate City was led by 6-foot-5 John Reed Barnes, who had 16 points, but just two before halftime, as the G-Men felt like they proved a point.
“I felt like it was important, and we talked all yesterday and today, we have to match their toughness and we had to pretty much go above and beyond their toughness and show how tough we can be to be able to garner some respect on the toughness inside,” Carlock said. “They are physical, but I thought we played pretty physical tonight too
That effort was led by Miller, who didn’t score, but certainly made his presence felt on defense before fouling out late in the game. Hunter Collier and freshman Mack McClung added 13 apiece, with six of his McClung’s points in the opening period.
“I go out there and I just try to bully kids and just try to get every rebound, everything I can get, putbacks,” Miller said. “I didn’t get any putbacks, but one thing I try to do is not let anybody get in my way.”
After a first quarter that featured four lead changes and two ties, Graham took the lead for good on 3s by Morgan and Workman, and used a 13-2 run to end the period, keyed by two 3s and eight points from Hill.
“I think the turning point was the 13-2 run in the second quarter,” Carlock said. “Colby was 4 for 5 from 3-point range, he is shooting 80 percent for the game, we will take that, it got him freed up.
“We were able to get two 20-point quarters and almost finished with a third in the fourth, our goal is to score 20 per quarter.”
Any hopes for Gate City were dashed early in the third when Hood made a 3 from NBA range and pulled up for a jumper in the lane to push the lead to 17. That lead grew to 21, at 54-33, before settling for a 54-40 advantage going
“They hit some 3s there and got comfortable, and once they got comfortable they spread us out and Hood drove and dished for a couple of more 3s and got up to 12,” Vermillion said. “It was just insurmountable it seemed like at times.”
Graham also dominated the boards, led by Roman Workman, who had eight rebounds, two steals and five points. Thomas Clarke added eight points for the G-Men.
“This is the furthest they have been in a while,” said Vermillion, whose Blue Devils lost in the state finals two years ago. “I am proud of them, their coach is a class act and he has got some good kids and they run a good program.”
The margin continued to grow in the final period, with the G-Men leading by as much as 22 on another Hood basket for a 69-47 lead with 4:37 to play.
“All in all, I am so proud of these guys, they put it all together for a great game tonight and they did everything they needed to do to win,” Carlock said. “We defended, we ran our sets, we spread the floor and we used our athletes to take on their guys and I thought we shot the ball extremely well.”
Graham will play Martinsville in Richlands on Thursday at 8 p.m., with Dan River and Grundy meeting in the opener at 6.
A trip to Richmond awaits the winner of both games. The G-Men have been eyeing this game for a while now.
“We are one win away from our goal at the beginning of the year to go to state,” Miller said.
bwoodson@bdtonline.com Twitter @bdtwoodson

at Graham Middle School
GATE CITY (18-8)
Hunter Collier 6 1-3 13, Mack McClung 3 7-7 13, Caleb Herron 1 0-2 2, John Reed Barnes 6 4-7 16, Nick Qualls 3 1-2 8, Hunter Jones 2 0-0 5, Isaac Salyer 0 0-0 0, Chandler Pendleton 0 0-0 0, Cooper Garrett 0 1-2 1, John Matlock 1 0-0 2, Joey Neff 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 14-23 60
GRAHAM (23-2)
Tony Hood 8 6-9 23, Roman Workman 1 2-3 5, Thomas Clarke 3 2-2 8, Colby Hill 5 7-9 21, Tanner Miller 0 0-0 0, Nick Morgan 7 5-6 20, Garrett Dalton 0 0-0 0, Taymon Cooke 0 0-2 0, Chris Jones 0 0-0 0, Israel Harris 0 0-0 0, Jacob Simpson 0 0-0 0, Nick Shoemaker 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 22-31 77.
Gate City.......14 10 16 20 — 60
Graham......13 23 23 18 — 77
3-point goals: GC 2 (Qualls 1, Jones 1); GR 7 (Hill 4, Hood 1, Morgan 1, Workman 1). Total fouls: GC 21; GR 20. Fouled out: Herron, Miller. Technicals: none.