Huskies beat

Watauga in

final seconds
By Steve Behr

WEST JEFFERSON — When Ashe County needed its biggest baskets against Watauga Friday night, it went to its biggest and best player.

Tommy Spagnolo, the Huskies’ 6-foot-7 center, delivered when it counted the most — in the fourth quarter.

Spagnolo scored his biggest basket of the game with 2.9 second left, giving the Huskies a heart-stopping 47-46 victory over Watauga in front of a revved-up Ashe County crowd.

Spagnolo, who signed with Radford University earlier in the fall, took a pass from Daniel Waln and managed to get his shot to fall through the basket. The shot actually bounced on the rim two times before it finally went through.

The basket gave Spagnolo 21 points, after he had scored just seven in the first meeting between the teams back in November. In that game, he spent much of the his time on the bench in foul trouble.

His final basket last Friday also gave the Huskies (4-0) their one-point lead, but the Pioneers had one final chance to win the game. And though, Baine Martin’s half-court shot hit the backboard and the rim, it did not go through and the Huskies survived.

“In our huddle after the game, I think the seniors were obviously heartbroken to come that close, especially after last year, and that makes four in a row. It’s their last shot at beating Ashe,” Watauga coach Rob Sanders said. “There’s no shot of seeing them in the playoffs or anything like that, so I think they took it hard. But we immediately turned the focus and said ‘Hey, you have absolutely nothing to feel bad about. You played one heck of a basketball game. It was a one-possession shot away from a victory. They had to make a shot and they made it.’ It’s nothing to feel bad about.”

Sanders said the plan was to foul the Huskies, since Watauga had committed just five during the second half.

A foul would have forced Ashe County to inbound the ball again and then take away more time for the Huskies to get a good look at the basket.

However, Waln looked like he might shoot the ball, so the Pioneers backed off, according to Sanders.

“That was the plan all along,” Sanders said. “We said during the timeout that we knew they were going to do something for Tommy. It would either be a lob or something to get him cutting towards the basket so he could get it on the block.”

“We told our guys that whoever they inbound the ball to, have a mental clock. (Count) one then boom, foul.

“I think the way Daniel made the pass into Tommy, because we told them don’t foul the shooter — we don’t want to put them in a situation where we have no shot at the end — and I think when he went to make that pass that Baine thought he was shooting the ball and that’s probably why he didn’t take the foul, especially with Daniel shooting.”

Spagnolo kept Ashe County in the game by scoring all of the Huskies’ nine points in the fourth quarter. His basket off a drive with 5:49 left gave Ashe County a 43-40 lead.

However, Watauga came right back with a driving basket from Brandon Calhoun 14 seconds later to pull the Pioneers to within one. Both teams struggled offensively the next two minutes before a Calhoun steal led to a Jeff Newell basket with 3:04 left, giving the Pioneers a 44-43 lead.

Watauga added to its lead with two foul shots by Joe Coffey to take a 46-43 advantage with 34.1 seconds left.

Ashe County went 5:29 without scoring until Spagnolo hit an inside basket with 20.6 remaining in the game.

Watauga was fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving the Huskies one more chance they didn’t waste. Getting the inbounds pass with 8.6 seconds to go, Waln found Spagnolo in the lane, where the Ashe center converted.

“Absolutely. We drew a play up on the sideline, a play we’ve never run before,” Ashe coach Marc Payne said. “We had to make sure we could get the ball into his hands and it worked.”

“Tommy got it and Jeff (Newell) did all he could to make it difficult as he could,” Sanders said. “The ball rolled around just long enough to make it difficult for us to get the ball up the court.”

Waln, who burned Watauga for 27 points on the strength of seven 3-pointers in the Huskies’ win earlier this year, settled for seven points Friday night.

Newell led the Pioneers with 13 points, followed by Coffey’s 12. Martin was the next highest finisher with five.

The Pioneers play at Avery County Monday, then play the Vikings two days later at Lentz-Eggers Gym.

Ashe County 47, Watauga 46
Watauga (2-5)
Calhoun 1 0-0 2, Coffey 4 2-2 12, Quinn 2 0-0 4, Newell 6 1-2 13, Wallace 2 0-0 4, Martin 2 1-1 5, Edwards 1 0-0 2, Koppenhaver 2 0-1 4, Pogoloff 0 0-0 0, Fancher 0 0-0 0, Steury 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 4-6 46.
Ashe County (4-0)
Waln 2 1-2 7, Wells 1 0-1 2, T. Holman 2 1-2 5, Roten 1 1-2 3, Spagnolo 9 3-3 21, Absher 1 0-0 2, Clay 1 0-0 2, Hamm 1 0-0 2, Nichols 1 1-1 3, Lucas 0 0-0 0, J. Holman 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 7-11 47.
Watauga 9 15 12 10 — 46
Ashe 14 9 15 9 — 47
3-point baskets—Watauga 2 (Coffey 2), Ashe 2 (Waln 2). Rebounds—Watauga 33 (Newell 11), Ashe 40 (Spagnolo 11). Turnovers—Watauga 15, Ashe 19. Total fouls—Watauga 11, Ashe County 11. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.