Published: March 11, 2009 11:25 pm      

State tourney and foe nothing new to Panthers

RICHMOND, Va. — A familiar foe. A familiar setting.

Twin Valley makes its second straight trip, and third visit in four years, to the state semifinals. The Panthers will also play Eastern Montgomery, the same squad they defeated in last year's state quarterfinals.

The Mustangs (22-4) and Twin Valley (22-5) square off today at 5 p.m. in the Group A, Division 1 semifinals at the Siegel Center at VCU.

Eastern Montgomery returns two of the three leading scorers in last year's 69-62 Twin Valley win, including senior guard Henry Hall and sophomore point guard Brad Wooten.

Hall leads the Mustangs in scoring this season with 17.5 points per game. Another sophomore, 6-3 wing Shawn Christian, who came off the bench last season, is scoring at a 17.4 ppg clip this year. Wooten averages 11.2 ppg.

They are an improved club, says Twin Valley coach Brian Moore, from the somewhat undisciplined squad his Panthers defeated last year at Christiansburg.

"Overall, they're probably a little bit better than they were last year," Moore said. "They're a little bit more under control, more disciplined. They're a pretty good basketball team, they're going to be tough to beat."

Eastern Montgomery, which relied heavily on its perimeter game last year, still shoots well from the outside, and is a better defensive team this season.

"They shoot threes extremely well," Moore added. "Defensively they're active, they're constantly moving. They have three or four good athletes.

"They run a diamond-and-one press fullcourt, they play man in the halfcourt and trap a lot, they run and jump. They're a little better at it than Galax. I can't figure out how (Galax) beat them. I'm sure playing Radford three times didn't hurt."

Galax shot 60 percent in beating the Mustangs in the Region C finals. Twin Valley's game plan is pretty much the same as it was against the Maroon Tide, which also relied on relentless pressure defense.

"We pretty much have to do the same thing as last week, take care of the ball, be patient on offense and don't try to run with them," Moore said.

Today's winner plays the Altavista-Colonial Beach winner in the finals Friday at 5 p.m.