BY ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
BRISTOL, Va. — Colby Hill had a big night with 23 points to lead Graham to a 69-58 victory over Lebanon to advance to the semifinals of the Alpha Natural Resources Classic at the Bearcat Den on the campus of Virginia High School.
“I felt we could have played with more defensive intensity early in game,” Graham coach Glynn Carlock said. “We challenged them, we were able to amp it up in the second quarter and pull away from Lebanon. They have a good team. We did what we needed to do to get a win and stay in the winner’s bracket.”
It was back and forth most of the first half. Austin Bollinger drove inside for a layup to tie it at 30-all with 2:30 to play in the second quarter. The G-men closed out the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 37-30 lead at intermission.
“We try to get out and run a little,” stated Carlock. “Our defense leads to our offense. When Lebanon changed to a zone in the second half, I thought we did a good job of attacking that. That’s a credit to my guys doing what we had worked on in practice.”
Hill was hard for the Pioneers to contain. When the G-men needed a bucket they were able to get the ball to him.
“Hill is playing well,” Carlock said. “He has overcame a little adversity, he has a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand. Since he dislocated his finger he’s scored 17 and 23. We want to get him healed up.”
Roman Workman (18 points) and Tony Hood (17 points) also had solid contributions for Graham (4-1). Their lone loss was to a very good Bluefield team.
“We knew coming in Graham would be one of the best teams we play all season,” said Lebanon coach Thad Lambert. “They are a good solid team and they shot the ball really well. They have a solid team, they made big shots all night.”
Lebanon was Owen Slate (15 points), Will Stamper (13), Nick Helton (12) and Austin Bollinger (12) powered the Pioneer offense.

GRAHAM (69)
Hood 6 4-4 17, Workman 6 5-6 18, Clarke 1 1-2 3, Hill 8 6-10 23, Miller 0 0-0 0, Morgan 4 0-0 8, Simpson 0 0-0 0, Dalton 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 16-22 69.
LEBANON (58)
Bollinger 4 4-4 12, Helton 5 0-1 12, Stamper 4 1-2 13, Long 0 3-4 3, Slate 6 2-5 15, Hooker 0 0-0 0, Owens 1 0-0 3, Rasnake 0 0-0 0, Sargent 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-16 58.
Graham..........................19 18 16 16 — 69
Lebanon........................20 10 17 11 — 58
3-point goals – Graham 3 (Hood 1, Workman 1, Hill 1), Lebanon 8 (Helton 2, Stamper 4, Owens 1, Slate 1). Total fouls – Graham 16, Lebanon 15. Fouled out - none. Technicals – none.