By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
GRUNDY, Va. — Wild momentum swings were the rule, not the exception in this one.
Grundy managed to overcome the last one.
Christian Jackson's free throw with 4.3 seconds remaining lifted the Golden Wave to a wild, 67-66 win over Richlands in Southern Empire Conference play Tuesday night.
The Blue Tornado overcame a 66-60 deficit on a 3-pointer out of the right corner from Cody Fuller with 42 seconds left and a 3-point play by Scottie Ball with 29 seconds remaining.
There were several huge momentum swings from the beginning to the end and nearly as many critical mistakes as key plays. The teams combined to turn the ball over three times in the final 29 seconds. The final miscue came after Jackson's go-ahead free throw.
"It was pretty much whoever made the last mistake was gonna lose the game and it just worked out in our favor," said Grundy coach Brian Moore, whose club improved to 7-4 with the win. "We were very inconsistent all night.
"We were never able to get in a halfcourt and run anything, of course they had a lot to do with that. We need to be a little more disciplined in the halfcourt. We're not making the progress in that area that we want to, hopefully we'll get there."
Charles McCoy posted his latest double-double with 26 points and 20 rebounds for Grundy, which opened the game with a 19-4 run.
Three other players scored in double figures for the Golden Wave.
Jackson finished with 12 points, Jordan McCoy scored seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and Dylan Wolford added 10 points.
Ball finished with a double-double with 23 points and 11 boards, while Luke Phillips scored 22 points for the Blues, who erased a 40-27 halftime deficit with a 14-0 run to start the second half.
"I thought we came out very flat, with no heart and no intensity and dug ourselves a big hole and we came in and we had an intense talk at halftime and the kids responded and they got back in the ballgame," said Richlands coach Jody Fuller.
"Then I guess they thought things were just gonna fall their way and we go back to the flat play again. We didn't execute down the stretch. We hit a couple of big shots to get back in it after we were down six.
“We did enough to get back in it we just didn't execute a couple of times when we had a chance to jump out and take the lead."
The lead changed hands and there were four ties after the Blues (2-8) took a 41-40 lead. Jordan McCoy, who also had a double-double with 10 rebounds, and Charles McCoy hit free throws down the stretch for Grundy.
Fuller finished with 15 points, seven in the fourth period. Phillips and Ethan Ratliff each had six assists for Richlands. Ball had four steals and scored seven fourth-quarter points.
Richlands went on a 13-2 run to draw within 21-17 in the second quarter before Grundy answered with an 11-2 spurt.

RICHLANDS (66)
Phillips 22, Fuller 13, Ball 23, Ratliff 0, Lowe 4, Herndon 2, Moir 0,
Atkinson 0, Thomason 0, Smith 0.
GRUNDY (67)
J. McCoy 11, C. McCoy 26, Jackson 12, B. Dllow 8, Wolford 10, Cleek 0,
Blankenship 0, Yates 0.
Richlands.....................11 16 20 19 — 66
Grundy.............................21 19 7 20 — 67
3-point goals-R 6 (Phillips 3, Fuller 3), G 6 (Jackson 2, Dillow 2, C.
McCoy, J. McCoy). JV Game-Richlands, 49-22.