The Handley Judges host the Varina Blue Devils in the Class 4 VHSL State Semifinals in tonight’s Van Metre Homes Game of the Week on The River 95.3, Fox Sports Radio 1450, theriver953.com, and The River 95.3 app with coverage starting at 6:45 pm for the 7 pm tip-off.
Handley will look to continue their historic season against one of Class 4’s powerhouse programs in front of what is sure to be another sell-out home crowd.
The Judges started the season 21-0 before falling in overtime to West Virginia state title contender Spring Mills to conclude the regular season.
Handley used that loss as a learning experience and rebounded to win the last four playoff games including a comeback victory against E.C. Glass in the Regional Championship game.
While Zach Harrell-Zook’s squad coasted through most of the regular season with wins often coming by double-digits, finishing that game on a 9-0 run with clutch free-throws from Will Braun-Duin shows this team can win in whatever fashion it takes.
Braun-Duin led the Judges during his sophomore season with 26.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.4 apg, shooting an astounding 45.3% from three, and already surpassing 1,000 points in his career.
He was joined by the team’s second leading scorer, 6’5″ forward Christian Dinges, and all-around talent, 6’4″ forward Kyren Oglesby, as recent 1st Team All-Region selections.
Junior guard Jaevon Brisco has been on fire from long range in the playoffs and has multiple five three-pointer games in the run including in the Tuesday night win over Heritage.
Three point shooting appears to be an advantage for Handley, but Varina will have some advantages of their own including pure athleticism and familiarity with deep playoff runs in all sports.
Varina recently moved down from Class 5 and has dominated including back-to-back State Championships in basketball before falling to the eventual champions last season.
The Varina football team also went to the State Championship game just a few months ago with many of those top athletes trading their cleats for basketball shoes.
Kaleb Wyche led the Blue Devils football team at quarterback before going down with an injury in the State Championship game and after returning to the basketball team late from that injury, he assumed the role of quarterbacking this offense as well.
Wyche is the younger brother of Kennard Wyche, former All-State selection and currently a member of Virginia Union’s basketball team, and every possession goes through him.
He is dangerous off the dribble with explosive speed and when the defense collapses on him, he always finds the open man.
Usually benefitting from the attention drawn by Wyche are 6’4″ sophomore wing Brian Mitchell and 6’6″ junior forward Caleb Straughter.
Both have shown the ability to score in bunches with Mitchell dropping 41 earlier this year and Straughter leading the Blue Devils last game with 17.
Straughter is not a “back-to-the-basket” big man, and he will stretch the Judges’ defense with his shooting ability.
Both Handley and Varina have kept an eye on each other all season long and will finally meet in Winchester on Friday night with a trip to the Seigel Center on the line.
This game will come down to the final seconds and Handley will celebrate one last time on their home floor before heading to VCU to complete the magical run next week, Judges win with Braun-Duin icing the game from the line 58-54.
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