Luray hosts Region A runner-up in Tuesday’s state quarterfinal
By Randy Arrington
LOUISA, Feb. 27 — Big time players step up in big time games, and Friday night’s Region 1B championship provided a platform for Luray’s Matthew Owens and Rappahannock’s Jason Deal to shine in the final moments of a classic postseason barnburner.
“This year with all those guys being seniors, all the pressure was on. Everybody’s telling you your the No. 1 team, and this and that,” LHS head coach Matt Huff said of the expectations heading into the 2025-26 season. “You get everyone’s best shot every night, and when we came out tonight Rapp gave us a heckuva game. Those guys are definitely a great program, and they are playing really well right now. So, this one was really sweet.”
Deal, who posted a game-high 32 points, hit two big three-pointers 16 seconds apart late in the fourth quarter. The first narrowed the lead to 52-50 with 1:06 left in the game. The second would tie the game at 53-53, with 50 seconds left on the clock.
“I mean he was hot tonight,” Owens said of Deal. “I felt like everything he was shooting was going in. I think third or fourth quarter coach put me on him… I was guarding him but he was still making shots, and we just had to make sure that he didn’t get the ball at the end we were in good shape.”
With 15 seconds left on the clock, Owens drove the lane and hit the go-ahead bucket to put Luray on top, 55-53. The JMU-commit ended the game with a team-high 25 points.
“Honestly, it’s nice to have a coach and teammates that trust me with the ball at the end of the game,” Owens said. “I caught the ball, saw the clock winding down a little bit, so I dribbled out a little bit, and then spread the offense out to give me a little bit of space. I just did a little spin move, got to my spot and got to the rack and finished the layup.”
“He’s a guy that can go make a play,” Coach Huff said of Owens. “A lot of teams don’t always have a guy that can go make a play. He’s a guy that in any situation can go make a play one way or the other. I was debating on calling a timeout late, but I was like you know, they are in man-to-man, they’re not in that zone, so that hole is going to be open and I trusted him as a senior to go make a play, and he went and made a play.”
Rapp would call a timeout to set a final play with 14.7 seconds left, while Luray set their defense.
“Defensively, give the best effort we got,” Coach Huff said he told his team during the final timeout. “Making sure that [Deal] didn’t get an open look from three, making sure that nobody got an open look from three…we didn’t want give up a two, but we knew we didn’t want to give up a three. So we just made sure we had a hand, or two hands, or three hands on a three-pointer and then try to go rebound.”
The Panthers would move the ball around, grab an offensive board, and get off two three-point attempts in the final 10 seconds — but the shots didn’t fall, and Luray captured its third-consecutive region title.
“It’s hard to win one. It’s really hard to win two, it’s even harder to win three…especially in a row. And it proved true tonight with Rapp, coming right down to the wire being able to win that third one…this one is going to feel good for a while,” Coach Huff said after the win. “But my first couple of years, hardly winning any games, to coming back to win three-straight regional championships, this is special…..this very is special.”
Both teams started off sluggish, shooting a combined 5-for-20 in the opening period and committing a combined nine turnovers in just eight minutes. After winning the tip, Rapp went on an 8-2 run to start game behind five points from Deal. However, Luray ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run and took a 10-8 lead into the second frame.
The Bulldogs would then hit four shots from beyond the arc in the second quarter and go 7-for-7 from the line in the first half. Owens hit a pair of triples and lead the charge with eight points, followed by senior Connor Hilliard with seven in the second to build a 30-23 lead at halftime.
The third quarter opened with a piece of history. As Hilliard hit a three-pointer in the first 45 seconds, the senior also hit the 1,000-point milestone for his LHS career. He would finish the night with 12.
“Scoring 1,000 is great and all, but I’m just glad we’re winning,” Hilliard said after the game. “We still have a few more to win.”
Deal would go on to score eight of Rapp’s 10 points in the third, and nine of their 20 points in the fourth. Behind Deal’s game-high 32, senior Shawne Christian had seven points, while both senior Mason Comer and sophomore Aidan Robinson added six. Overall, Rapp shot 44 percent from the floor and 62 percent from the line, while committing 17 turnovers (11 in the first half).
For Luray, behind Owens’ team-high 25 and Hilliard’s 12, senior Will Judy put up 10 points, including a crucial 3-for-4 effort at the line in the final 1:17.
“He took a shot on that screen. We took a timeout to give him a little rest,” Coach Huff said of Judy just prior to those critical foul shots. “He had two good ones before that…but he missed the first one, made the second one that counted and put us up.”
Overall, the Bulldogs hit 44 percent from the floor, 88 percent from the line, and committed 18 turnovers (nine in each half).
Coach Huff said he slowed down the offense early in the fourth quarter, playing the possession game, and knowing the title match could come down to a final shot.
“We tried to be a little patient, tried to take some time off the clock when we had the lead. They were in that zone, trying to do something to make them get out of that zone,” Coach Huff said. “We tried to be really patient to get a really good shot at that point and limit possessions. At that time, we knew if we could get one more possession than them, by milking the clock a little bit, we had a chance. We were lucky to have a shot there at the end with a few seconds left to put us up.”
Now, Luray (21-6) will enter its third state tournament in three years as the Bulldogs host a state quarterfinal on Tuesday, March 3 against the Region A runner-up (to be decided Saturday night in the Region A championship).
“It’s a great feeling. We’ve been planning to do this our whole lives, growing up playing together, and it finally came true,” Hilliard said after the game. “We worked really hard throughout the year, and we knew we were capable of it. We knew if we played as a team we could do it.”
About half of the Luray team has been playing basketball together since elementary school. They know each other’s moves, abilities and how they think on the court.
“I feel like that helps us a lot,” Hilliard said. “These other teams start playing together in high school. We’ve been playing together since second or third grade together, and we know who we’ve got out there on the court and as long as we play as a team, we can beat anybody.”
“I mean it’s such a bond….Will Judy, Ayden Haddock, Connor, me, Riley, Cade Horn and most of our team have all played together since first or second grade,” Owens added. “Growing up together, we always talked about doing things like this, and to see all our hard work pay off is something really special for sure.”
While they have their share of talent, that type of bonding and chemistry, according to Coach Huff, is what will carry them through next week’s VHSL Class 1 state tournament.
“Lot of grit from those guys, even on nights where sometimes it’s not falling our way, those guys are really unselfish. They don’t care who does what as long as we get the job done. Tonight, down the stretch, we were able to make a few plays and those guys came up big on that last possession,” he said. “They just don’t quit. They never quit…they just have that dog in ’em. They have that fight until the last …they are going to give everything they got. You can’t coach that, that’s not coachable…that’s not teachable, that something they have and I’m glad they have it.”
The Bulldogs know they accomplished something special on Friday night, but they also know there’s more to achieve.
“It’s so special because beating a team three times is extremely hard, and winning three region championships in-a-row is extremely hard as well, and just seeing a group of guys come together, playing as one team is incredible,” Owens said after the region championship. “It’s such a special accomplishment. All glory to God, without him we couldn’t have done it. Teammates, coaches, family, everybody. It’s a special moment, and we’re just enjoying our time that we have left.
“We’re gonna make a run at state. We’re not satisfied yet.”
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
•••
RELATED ARTICLES
Bulldogs playing for two region titles Friday night
Luray rolls past Carver in region quarterfinal, 65-33
Bulldogs win Bull Run championship in overtime at Strasburg, 46-42
BRD UPDATES ~ No. 3 Luray to face No. 1 Strasburg for Bull Run title
Be the first to comment