Photo by Brian Hoffman
The Lord Botetourt boys basketball team gave second seeded William Fleming a scare in Monday’s Blue Ridge District tournament semifinal before the Colonels prevailed. Fleming took a 64-51 win in Roanoke to advance to tonight’s district championship game at Northside.
Fleming was the favorite after having beaten LB twice during the regular season, but the Cavaliers hung tough Monday night. Jackson Crawford came in needing nine points to reach 1,000 for his career and he took care of that early, scoring 13 of LB’s first 14 points in the first quarter. The Cavs trailed by just seven after three quarters, 45-38, before the Colonels added on late in the game to pick up the win.
Crawford finished with 24 points before fouling out late in the game. He was nine for 16 from the floor, including four-of-five from three-point range. He also had three assists and three steals.
Tyler Meade was the perfect complement to Crawford, scoring 16 points on some contested drives. Evan Bannwart and Blake Lovern had six rebounds each.
With the loss LB fell to 14-10 on the season. The Cavs opened the BRD tournament with a 73-33 win over Staunton River at LB last Friday. Crawford had 26 points while Bannwart and Walker Sutton had seven each against the district’s bottom seed. LB led 35-11 at the half as they routed the Eagles for the third time this season.
Lord Botetourt is now off until opening play in the Region 3D tournament next Tuesday, February 21. The Cavs are the fifth seed and they’ll open against fourth seeded Abingdon.