By ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
SALTVILLE, Va. — With the closure of Haysi High School due to consolidation at the end of the school year, there is no doubt that a large contingent from that community had reason to be worried their team might play their last game ever in the semifinals of the Crooked Road Conference tournament at Northwood High School.
But the Tigers will be playing at least two more games.
Haysi rallied in the fourth quarter on Friday to advance to today’s finals with a 51-45 win over Twin Valley. The Tigers have now won 12 of their last 13 games, playing their best basketball of the year at tournament time.
“For the time these kids have put in since we lost to Eastside last March, they deserve to go to the regionals,” said Haysi coach David Robinette.
“We didn’t play a perfect game, but they deserve this with the way they’ve battled this season. I’m so happy for them.”
Twin Valley (13-13) played with a lot of energy. They led most of the first half and were up 26-21 at halftime. The Panthers used a smothering defense and tried to challenge every shot by Haysi standout Hunter Sutherland.
They were able to somewhat contain Sutherland, but they were unable to solve Will Ratliff. The 6-foot-6 junior post, poured in a game-high 26 points and also grabbed 14 rebounds to help the Tigers season continue.
“There was a lot of pressure,” said an excited Ratliff. “We just had to step up and we did. We were down most of the game, we just had to fight to come back. This team has battled the whole season.”
The Panthers went up 41-38 on a bucket from Tayten Sykes. Sutherland got the ball to Ratliff inside and he scored to pull Haysi (16-6) within one.
Sutherland then had a clutch steal, but missed a shot, Ratliff grabbed the offensive rebound for a put-back to give the Tigers their first lead 42-41 of the second half.
On the next possession, the Panthers missed a shot and Ratliff scored for a three-point advantage.
Neither team could pull away down the stretch. Guage Hill put the Tigers up for good with a stick-back with a minute to play. Haysi missed some foul shots the final minute, but with Ratliff and Hill battling on the boards were able to get rebounds off the misses and keep the ball.
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way toward the end,” TV coach Matthew Baldwin said. “We had some chances to get the ball, take it down and get a bucket. We lost the rebound or tipped it out of bounds.”
Sutherland contributed 17 points to the Tigers win. Sykes (19 points) and McGlothlin (18 points) led the Panther offense.
It will be the top two-seeds in the championship game tonight as Haysi and Honaker battle.
“Not as much pressure, last year was the same situation,” Robinette said. “Obviously we want to win the conference tournament. We will play hard, but we’re going to take some time and enjoy this win. Not many teams in the state are making the region playoffs.”

At Northwood High School
TWIN VALLEY (13-13)
Sykes 7 4-5 19, Wagner 3 0-0 6, McGlothlin 8 0-0 18, Shortridge 0 0-0 0, S. Mullins 0 0-0 0, Wimmer 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 2-4 2. Totals 18 6-9 45.
HAYSI (16-6)
Sutherland 5 5-7 17, Hillman 0 0-0 0, Conaway 0 0-0 0, Ratliff 11 4-7 26, Hill 3 1-3 7, Sykes 0 1-6 1. Totals 19 11-23 51.
Twin Valley................10 16 13 6 — 45
Haysi...........................8 13 14 16 — 51
3-point goals – Twin Valley 3 (Sykes 1, McGlothlin 2), Haysi 2 (Sutherland 2). Total fouls – Twin Valley 20, Haysi 12. Fouled out - none. Technicals – Hill.