By LARRY HYPES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
TAZEWELL, Va. — Jeff Uju saved the best for last — in both halves.
Uju spun, rolled the ball over the rim with :14 to play, and made his Oak Hill Academy “red” team a winner Thursday with a 53-52 non-district win over Tazewell. It was also Uju who put back a rebound for a score as the Warriors grabbed a one-point halftime lead.
Trailing by 8 points with 7:40 on the clock, the hometown Bulldogs (8-6) patiently fought their way back behind sharp-shooting Blake Hash and steady Noah Walker to take a 52-51 lead in the final minute.
Oak Hill called time, worked the ball around the perimeter and the key shot fell. Tazewell, with one last chance, turned the ball over and could not regain possession before the final buzzer. Missed free throws in the closing minutes also hampered the Bulldogs. The victory avenged a 78-75 loss to the Bulldogs at Mouth of Wilson in the season opener.
Hash, who fouled out in the last minute, led all scorers with 18 points including four three-pointers but that came as no surprise to Oak Hill coach Steve Hebold.
“That No. 4 (Hash) hit a pair of those long three balls against us when Tazewell beat us at home and I thought we remembered that for most of the game but we lost our memory again there in the fourth quarter. I had to call time and remind our guys and we did what we had to do late in the game,” grinned Hebold.
A see-saw first half pitted the evenly-matched teams in a battle for position as Jalen Jordan’s steal and score closed the opening stanza with a 16-14 Tazewell lead.
Uju and Tyler Marsh teamed up as OHA moved ahead in the third quarter and kept the margin until Tazewell was able to overcome the deficit in the final minutes.
“We were able to keep Tazewell out of rhythm just enough, I guess, to win this game,” said Hebold.. “We’ve started a real tradition between these two teams. Every game seems to go down to the last second. Tonight was our turn, the way it turned out. This was a good win.”
Uju finished with 13 points, right behind Shad Wise (15), and ahead of Devonn Dillard (10).
Tazewell’s big 3 also included Noah Walker (12), who also pulled down 11 rebounds, and Jordan (10). Ryan Hankins had 8 Bulldog boards and Hash 5 rebounds. John Walker hit a pair of three-point shots for the Dogs.
Jordan said, “I thought we played hard. We had some good defense at times. This was a tough game — Oak Hill is always good.”
Walker added, “There will be games like this — we have to get ready for a tough week coming up. We have two of the biggest games of the year here against Carroll County and Marion.”
Bulldog coach Lee Walker concluded, “We ran our sets well. Hopefully, we’ll get play from everybody and the feeling will be contagious. Next week, we have to put it all together against a couple of very good teams. Maybe we’ll take the lessons from tonight’s game and put them to good use in the district.”
Tazewell hosts Carroll County on Tuesday and Marion on Friday.

at Tazewell Middle School
OAK HILL (n/r)
Shad Wise 15, King Scott 3, DeVonn Dillard 10, Tyler Marsh 2, Amir Duson-Carter 8, Tyler Zidan 2, Jeff Uju 13. Totals 20 4-6 53.
TAZEWELL (8-5)
Christian Lewis 2, Blake Hash 8, Colin Hancock 10, Ryan Hankins 4, Noah Walker 12, Jalen Jordan 10, John Walker 6. Totals 12 10-18 52.
Oak Hill...........................................14 16 14 9 — 53
Tazewell..........................................16 13 9 14 — 52
3 pt field goals: OH 3 (Wise, Scott, Uju); TZ 6 (Hash 4, John Walker 2). Fouled out – T (Hash).