By ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
SALTVILLE, Va. — It was fitting in what was likely the last meeting between the two schools on the basketball court, was a typical Honaker-Haysi matchup. Physical and intense from the opening tip until the final horn sounded.
Honaker (24-1) continued its run through the Clinch Mountain Conference unscathed, winning the tournament championship with a 71-63 triumph Friday night over Haysi.
“When you come down to Honaker-Haysi it doesn’t matter what the records are,” said Honaker coach Marcus Dunham. “You can throw all that stuff out the window. They play with a lot of emotion and we play with a lot of emotion. Both teams played hard and physical, both coaches coached hard, it was just a good game to be a part of.”
Haysi (16-7) has now won 12 of its last 14 games. Their only two losses have been to Honaker by 10 and now eight points. Both teams advance to 1A West regional play on Monday.
“This team earned the right last night to go to the regional, they earned the right to come over here tonight to have fun and compete,” Haysi coach David Robinette said.
“The first half was tight with six-lead changes. Honaker led most of the way, but their largest lead was six points in the first two quarters.
Honaker came out with renewed enthusiasm in the third quarter. Lester hit a 3, they started pounding the ball inside to Tanner Robinette and they scored in transition.
“That was our goal in the second half,” Dunham said. “Whether it was getting the ball to Robinette, or getting dribble drives to the bucket, we wanted to attack the rim. Tanner kind of put the team on his back in the second half.”
Leading 38-34, Casey Harman grabbed an offensive rebound for a stick-back to start a 12-0 run. The Russell County Tigers were up 50-34 going to the final stanza.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Lester picked up an assist when he threw a perfect pass to Robinette racing down the floor for a break-away slam dunk that brought the Honaker fans to their feet.
Hill answered with a jump shot for Haysi, but Lester then hit another 3 to give Honaker their biggest lead of the game 55-36 with 6:51 left to play.
“My eyes got big when I saw Tanner breaking to the basket,” Lester said. “I knew I had to give it to him. The crowd got into it.
“it’s just awesome to have someone like Tanner. He gives me a lot of confidence shooting the ball, because I know if something goes wrong he can clean up the mess.”
Hill had 16 points to pace Haysi. Hunter Sutherland added 15 points, before leaving the game with an ankle injury with just under two minutes to play. Conaway (12 points) and Will Ratliff (10 points) were also in double figures.
Robinette had a double-double with 17 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots. Lester led all scorers with 25 points and also had four assists. Casey Dye added 12 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Honaker will host Covington in the 1A playoffs on Monday, while Haysi travels to Radford.

HAYSI (16-7)
Sutherland 5 3-6 15, Hillman 4 1-1 12, Conaway 1 0-0 2, Ratliff 5 0-0 10, Hill 7 2-2 16, Sykes 4 0-0 8, O’Quinn 0 0-0 0, Yates 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 6-9 63.
HONAKER (24-1)
Sample 0 3-4 3, Dye 5 2-5 12, Lester 10 1-2 25, Harman 3 3-4 9, Robinette 6 5-6 17, Hilton 0 0-0 0, B. Coleman 0 0-0 0, J. Coleman 1 0-0 2, Stinson 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 15-20 71.
Haysi...................8 17 9 29 — 63
Honaker............13 12 25 21 — 71
3-point goals – Haysi 5 (Sutherland 2, Hillman 3), Honaker 4 (Lester 4). Total fouls – Haysi 22, Honaker 11. Fouled out - Conaway. Technicals – Robinette, Sample. JV championship game – Honaker 41, Twin Valley 35.
———
Girls Championship
Honaker 58, Twin Valley 55
It was somewhat of an upset in the girls contest as Honaker outlasted CRC regular season champ Twin Valley 58-55. The two teams have met four times this season, and now each team has won twice.
“We played awful in the first half,” Twin Valley coach Tommy Crigger said. “I switched up some things defensively in the second half and it worked to our advantage. We were able to get back in the game.”
After a basket by Madison Miller, Honaker had a 40-27 lead with 5:53 to play in the third quarter. Lakin Keen hit a 3 to spark a 13-0 Panther run, tying the game when Kara Goodman scored on a drive.
It was a roller coaster ride for each team from that point. Keen hit another 3 to tie it at 55 with just over two minutes to play. Megan Ray calmly sank a shot from the left corner to put Honaker (20-6) up.
Twin Valley missed a shot and Laken Robinette made 1-of-2 foul shots for the final margin. Twin Valley (19-7) had a couple of chances to tie but Megan Meade and Tara Deel had late steals for the Tigers.
Robinette (18 points) and Meade (12 points) led the Honaker offense. Goodman led the Panthers with an 18 point game and Lexy Vance contributed 13 points.
Regional girls play also begins on Monday. Honaker will travel to Radford and Twin Valley host Narrows.

HONAKER (20-6)
Deel 3 0-1 6, Ray 5 0-0 10, Shelton 1 0-0 2, Miller 1 1-4 4, Robinette 8 2-4 18, Music 1 2-2 4, Roman 0 0-0 0, Vandyke 1 0-0 2, Meade 4 4-5 12. Totals 24 9-16 58.
TWIN VALLEY (19-7)
Vance 5 3-4 13, Keen 3 0-0 9, Jackson 3 0-1 7, Goodman 7 0-0 18, O’Quinn 3 0-0 6, Lester 0 0-0 0, Meadows 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 3-5 55.
Honaker................18 14 13 13 — 58
Twin Valley...........13 9 20 13 — 55
3-point goals – Honaker 1 (Miller 1), Twin Valley 8 (Keen 3, Jackson 1, Goodman 4). Total fouls – Honaker 10, Twin Valley 13. Fouled out - none. Technicals – none. JV championship game – Haysi 32, Honaker 29.