AM
Honaker boys win in final trip to Haysi
Honaker (66) Vs. Haysi (56)
Feb 06, 2015
By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
BIRCHLEAF, Va. — It was an historic night for Haysi basketball. The only history that concerned Honaker, however, was the recent kind. In the second year of the Crooked Road Conference and on its final trip to Haysi before it closes its doors this spring Honaker clinched its second regular season championship with a hard-fought, 66-56 win over Haysi Friday night at Sandlick Elementary School.
On a night in which every 1,000 point scorer in Haysi High School history was honored it was defense, not scoring that ruled the day. It helped the Russell County Tigers build an 18-point first half lead and a 15-point edge in the second half before the Dickenson County Tigers hustled back to within 53-49 when 6-foot-6 junior Will Ratliff converted a stickback off his own miss with 4:44 remaining.
Casey Dye and Caleb Sample each scored as Honaker (19-1) slowly rebuilt its lead to 60-50 after two free throws by Tanner Robinette with 1:33 left in front of an SRO crowd in thew tiny gym.
"We had to match their intensity," said Dye, who finished with 16 points and five assists."They brought a lot of fans and they were pumped up.
"We had to play good defense. You can't expect to shoot well every night."
Robinette finished with a double-double with 12 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks, despite sitting out much of the first half in foul trouble.
Both teams struggled from the field before the intermission, but Honaker forced 10 Haysi turnovers in building a 33-15 lead. Haysi ended the half on an 8-1 run to get within 34-23.
“I thought we got good looks, and they’re a tough nteam to get good shots against,” Haysi coach David Robinette said. “We just couldn’t get them to go down.”
Ratliff scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth period and added 13 boards and four blocks. Hunter Sutherland added 19 points and Guage Hill 10 points and 12 rebounds in the physical contest. Honaker forced 10 first half turnovers.
"We had an off night, offensively, so we had to make up for it on defense," Honaker coach Marcus Dunham said. "We made some mistakes and let them back in it down the stretch, but we did enough to win the game.”
There was a heated exchange between the two head coaches in the first half after Haysi's Jalen Sykes was called for an intentional foul on Dye, but cooler heads soon prevailed.
Sandlick, which seats fewer than 1,000 fans, is always a heated atmosphere.
“I love the atmosphere, I love the environment,” added Dunham. “It's always fun here. It was great for us, because this is the type of game we're going to have to play going into the post-season.
“To get the first two conference titles is great, but the main thing is it takes the pressure off us in the conference tournament.

Boys
HONAKER (66)
Sample 12, B. Coleman 2, Hilton 0, Dye 16, J. Coleman 0, Lester 11, Harman 6, Stinson 7, Robinette 12.
HAYSI (56)
Sutherland 19, Hillman 6, Conaway 0, Ratliff 16, Hill 10, Sykes 2, Yates 0, O’Quin 3.
Honaker............21 13 16 16 — 66
Haysi...................9 14 15 18 — 56
3-point goals-Hon 3 (Dye, Sample, Stinson), Hay 7 (Sutherland 4, Hillman 2, O’Quin). Total fouls-Hon 24, Hay 18. Fouled out-Hill,
Conway, Ratliff. Technicals-none.
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Honaker 21 13 16 16 0 66
Haysi 9 14 15 18 0 56
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