By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
LEBANON, Va. – And Ervin shall lead them.
Ervin Moses Beatty, that is.
Beatty poured in a career-high 37 points to lead J.I. Burton to a 66-55 win over Haysi in the Region D, Division 1 semifinals Friday night.
The win sends the newly recharged Raiders (13-13) into today’s finals against Castlewood and into next week’s Group A, Division 1 quarterfinals as well.
Haysi opened the game on a 9-0 run, but it was all J.I. Burton after that, thanks to defense and the hot hand of Beatty.
The junior hit all six of his shots from the field in the second quarter, including five in a 14-4 run that helped Burton take a 28-22 halftime lead.
Beatty added seven straight from the field in the third period, knocking down one jumper after another.
In all the hot-shooting guard hit 13 shots in a row and had 35 points by the end of the third quarter and the Raiders had a commanding 50-36 lead. He was 14-of-18 from the field overall.
Beatty was modest about his career night.

“We were just playing well and everything was clicking, and I was knocking down shots,” said Beatty who couldn’t remember hitting 13 shots in a row before, even in practice.

While Beatty put on a show on one end of the floor the Raiders held Haysi’s trio of excellent perimeter shooters in check for the most part on the defensive end.

“Erwin’s middle name is Moses and Kevin Van Ness played strong for us, but defensively, that’s how we won the game,” J.I. Burton coach Aaron Williams said. “We covered their shooters and covered their ball-handlers. Ervin had the hot hand and we went to him.”

Van Ness led the Raiders with seven assists, while McKenzie Blair hauled in a game-high 18 rebounds. Alex Keys added a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Senior Peyton O’Quinn had to battle inside and out to finish with a team-high 18 points for Haysi (17-8). Freshman Hunter Sutherland added 13 points.
Haysi coach David Robinette could do little but marvel at the offensive display by Beatty.
"You’ve got to try to guard him outside, because if you guard him up close he’s going to drive by you,” Robinette said. “I haven’t seen anybody around here shoot a jump shot like that in a long time. He kind of took over in certain stretches and we couldn’t do anything to stop him.”
Haysi had modest success with its full-court pressure, but it seemed to tire the guard-oriented Tigers, at least by the middle of the third quarter.
O’Quinn and Sutherland each hit a couple of shots to get Haysi within 32-29 early in the period and 36-31 midway through it. Beatty, however, stayed hot, the Tigers were not and Burton closed the third quarter on a 14-5 run.
“We’re a guard team and they took our guards away,” Robinette added. “We missed some shots we normally make. Our guards, Hunter Sutherland, Tyler Tipton and Peyton O’Quinn have to do so much. Our posts were in the battling, but our guards have to work so hard.
“(Burton) is physically strong and athletic and they’re good basketball players, too. We had to press to get some easy baskets. That was the only way we were going to score, but that takes a toll on you.”
The win sends Williams, who used to coach Castlewood, against the Blue Devils and head coach Doug Campbell this afternoon. Campbell was a star player and a longtime assistant to Stan Wilson at J.I. Burton.
Defense has Burton, which almost didn’t make it out of its district, moving on after two big wins in the region.
“I think our kids know we’ve got to play great defense, and we’ve done that the last two games,” Williams said.

J.I. BURTON (66)
Keys 5 2-3 12, Beatty 14 9-15 37, Maggard 2 3-6 7, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Blair 1 3-4 5, Van Ness 2 0-0 5, Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals – 24 17-28 66.
HAYSI (55)
Sutherland 6 0-0 13, Tipton 2 0-3 5, O’Quinn 4 10-11 18, Owens 1 0-0 2, Hill 2 4-6 8, Howell 2 3-5 7, Rose 0 0-0 0, Kiser 0 0-0 0, Sykes 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Boyd 1 0-0 2, Hillman 0 0-0 0. Totals – 18 17-25 55.
J.I. Burton..........12 16 22 16 -- 66
Haysi.............13 9 14 19 -- 55
3-point goals – JIB 1 (Van Ness), Haysi 2 (Sutherland, Tipton). Total fouls-JIB 21, Haysi 23. Fouled out-Owens, Hill, Blair. Technicals-none.