Ramey
Honaker wins region, improves to 27-1
Honaker (40) Vs. Galax (29)
Mar 06, 2015
BY ANTHONY STEVENS
for the Daily Telegraph
LEBANON, Va. — The Maroon Tide controlled the tempo, the Tigers won the game.
Honaker (27-1) came into the contest scoring 78 points a game, surpassing 100 three times this season. Galax would have nothing to do with that pace, but the Tigers used a suffocating defense to claim the 1A West regional title with a 40-29 victory over Galax at Long Gymnasium on Friday.
“Our game plan was to keep it close and hopefully win it at the end,” said Galax coach Verl Brown. “We weren’t going to press Honaker, because of course we’ve gotten film on them. Everyone that has tried to press them has gotten demolished.”
It has been a long road for the Tigers who won their 26th consecutive game. They had wrapped up a trip to the final four at Richmond with a semifinal win over George Wythe on Wednesday. The West championship was definitely sweet.
“This is great,” Honaker post Tanner Robinette said. “It’s another step toward our ultimate goal.
“We knew Galax would slow it down and pack their defense inside. We didn’t want to let them get ahead, because they do such a good job with the tempo. We just wanted to keep our intensity up and play hard the entire game.”
Galax (16-11) kept it right where they wanted it throughout the first half, when it was tied four times and there were four lead-changes. Honaker’s largest lead was four points and the Maroon Tides biggest lead was two points. The Tigers held a 17-15 advantage at halftime.
Dominic DiGiacomo started the third quarter with a bucket in the paint for Galax. Clif Conley then dropped in a 3-pointer from the left wing to put the Maroon Tide up 20-17. Robinette answered when they got the ball to him inside with a two-handed slam dunk to ignite the standing room only crowd.
“We talked at halftime about being patient with the ball, until we could find a hole in the zone,” stated Robinette. “We were able to get some buckets inside, and that helped open up the game for us.”
Conley hit his next two shots, to give Galax a 24-19 advantage with 4:54 to play. Unbelievably Honaker scored the next 21 points of the game. The Tide went over 10 minutes without scoring. Their next bucket came with Honaker leading 40-24 with 1:12 left in the game when Keyshawn Brown hit a trey.
“Defense was a big key to our success,” said Honaker guard Casey Dye. “They slowed the ball down on us, we hadn’t played much like that this year. It took us a half to get used to it.
“We knew we had to play lockdown defense, because there wasn’t a lot of opportunities to score. We were able to bear down, push the ball and pick up a good win.”
Only four players scored for Galax. Conley led the way with a 13-point effort. Charles Harris had six rebounds to pace the Tide.
“Honaker overpowered us in the second half,” Brown said. “He went to his strength, getting it inside and I would have done the same thing. We just had no match for them, we have four guards on the floor most of the time.
“They were all over us with great defense. We didn’t get open looks, we have to be prepared for someone in your face. When you get this far, this is the kind of team you will face. You have to be ready for it.”
Robinette filled the stat sheet with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Casey Harman was huge with nine rebounds and eight assists. Dye contributed 12 points.
It is the first regional title in the five-year tenor of head coach Marcus Dunham. It was Honaker’s first regional championship since the 2002-03 season when they defeated Gate City.
“This is outstanding,” commented Dunham. “All the credit goes to this great group of kids and my coaching staff, I’m just along for the ride.
“This win will give us a lot of confidence. It’s the first game we’ve had to win in the 40’s. We knew it was coming, I told the boys I liken Galax to a University of Virginia type of style. We had to play patient and smart.”
Honaker will play at Richmond on Monday. They will face the loser of the 1A East title game between defending state champion Altavista and Surry County in the state semis.

At Lebanon
HONAKER (27-1)
Sample 0 0-2 0, Dye 4 4-10 12, Lester 3 1-2 8, Harman 2 1-3 5, Robinette 7 1-2 15, Hilton 0 0-0 0, B. Coleman 0 0-0 0, J. Coleman 0 0-0 0, Stinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-19 40.
GALAX (15-11)
K. Brown 1 0-0 3, Bartlett 0 0-0 0, Conley 5 0-0 13, Harris 2 0-0 4, Digiacomo 4 0-0 9, W. Brown 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0-0 0, Peoples 0 0-0 0, Edwards 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 0-0 29.
Honaker.......................10 7 11 12 — 40
Galax.............................9 6 9 5 — 29
3-point goals – Honaker 1 (Lester 1), Galax 5 (K. Brown 1, Conley 3, Digiacomo 1). Total fouls – Honaker 5, Galax 13. Fouled out - none. Technicals – none.
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Honaker 10 7 11 12 0 40
Galax 9 6 9 5 0 29
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