High School

Lawrence Parsons didn’t have the greatest introduction to high school basketball. The conclusion to his time at Galax couldn’t be much better.

Three years after being cut from the JV team, Parsons was named the Virginia High School Coaches’ Association Group A player of the year last week after leading the Maroon Tide to its second straight Division 1 state championship.

 Galax used a grand slam and a three-run homer to overcome a six-run deficit and the Maroon Tide opened its 2012 season with a 12-8 win over Pulaski County in a nondistrict game Tuesday at Felts Park.

The Cougars (3-1) took a 6-0 lead after the second inning before the Maroon Tide used the long ball to start its comeback. Eddie Hanks clubbed a three-run homer in the fourth and Chandler Quesenberry clubbed a grand slam to left in the fifth to knot the score at 8-8.

RICHMOND –– Once again, Galax found itself trailing by seven points under the bright lights of the Siegel Center, a chance to play in the state championship game on the line.

This time around, no miraculous finish was necessary.

Down 34-27 early in the second half, Galax worked itself into a three-point lead by the start of the fourth quarter and then owned the final eight minutes to roll to a 64-54 win over upstart Charles City in the Group A Division 1 semifinals.

Two hundred and thirty-five down, 70 to go.

Virginia’s state basketball tournaments, all 10 of them, get under way tonight, and though ‘states’ aren’t nearly as exclusive as they were even a few years ago, five boys’ teams and five girls’ teams will stand out among the Commonwealth’s 315 public high schools next week as state basketball champions. That’s still pretty special.