VISAA Division Two Semifinals: Five Takeaways

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I am in Petersburg, VA for the day for my annual trip to the VISAA semifinals. The division two semifinals featured the top four seeds and those results are posted below followed by five takeaways from the two games.</span></p> <p>Blue Ridge 53 Steward 50</p> <p>Highland 84 Miller School 76</p> <h3><b>Balance Attack Leads Blue Ridge</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Syracuse commit [player_tooltip player_id="815577" first="Maliq" last="Brown"] led Blue Ridge in scoring with 19 but after him it was a nice balance for Cade Lemkce’s bunch. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="1259622" first="Shanon" last="Simango"] was impressive in the low post for Blue Ridge. He was constantly rebounding the floor and showed some good inside scoring presence.</span></p> <h3><b>Steward Shows Toughness</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Coming off winning the TCIS tournament last week, Steward made it to the state semifinals and gave it all they got in a tough defeat against Blue Ridge. St. Francis (PA) commit [player_tooltip player_id="1107835" first="Cam" last="Gregory"] closed out his high school career in style showcasing his ability to pass the ball but also score. TCIS player of the year Curtis Blair did his thing for the Spartans but I walked away impressed with 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="1107851" first="Owen" last="Gray"]. Gray is every bit of 6’9 and showed some big-time potential for Steward. </span></p> <h3><b>Highland Advances</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Highland was without their 2024 big man [player_tooltip player_id="1259631" first="Patrick" last="Ngongba"] once again because of a foot injury but that did not stop Highland from beating Miller and advancing to the division two state championship game. This was the first time I had seen O’Brien since his breakout summer and he has only improved since then. He can shoot the ball from different areas on the court and it looks like he has grown even more since the summer which helps him over smaller defenders. 2024 [player_tooltip player_id="1259618" first="Isaiah" last="Abraham"] continues to turn heads with his skillset to go along with good size. 2024 [player_tooltip player_id="1339892" first="Julian" last="Rivera"] also had a good performance for Highland and played a big role in the second half to help Highland advance.</span></p> <h3><b>Miller School Wraps Up A Good Year</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jack Meriwether has the Miller School program heading in the right direction and were super close to advancing to the state championship game but suffered a tough loss to Highland. I continue to like the pickup for Fairfield in [player_tooltip player_id="1217448" first="Anthony" last="Davis"] and I think he could contribute very early in the MAAC. 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="977592" first="Austin" last="Ball"] showed why he is one of the top shooters in the 2023 Virginia class but also showed improvement in his all around game. 2024 [player_tooltip player_id="1259617" first="Eli" last="DeLaurier"] is on track to be near the top of the list in Virginia for the 2024 class.</span></p> <h3><b>Championship Is Set</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are expecting a very good game on Saturday in the division two state championship game between Blue Ridge and Highland. Blue Ridge is no stranger to this stage and have a good shot of winning another state title under Cade Lemkce but if there is a team that can knock them off it is certainly Highland. Highland has the weapons and depths to bring home a state title tomorrow. </span></p>