Phillips' trey sinks Blazers

Tuesday was senior night for the Waynesboro boys, and the Little Giant seniors were sure to make the most of it.

Skylar Phillips’ 3-point shot with 10 seconds remaining broke a tie game and sent the crowd to its feet as Waynesboro survived another contest against district rival Spotswood that came down to the wire, edging the Trailblazers 60-57.

“At crunch time we made some plays. I think that was the only basket Skylar had in the second half, but he’s pretty fearless and he likes to take those kind of shots,” Waynesboro head coach C. Jay DeWitt said.

The fourth quarter saw four lead changes and two ties as the Giants and Blazers matched each other step-for-step.

Spotswood’s Hyrum Weiler dominated the second half with all 20 of his game-high points, and his free throws with 2:08 on the clock pushed the Blazers’ lead to 55-52. Alex Graves, who led the Giants with 17 points, responded on the other end to make it 55-54, but Spotswood freshman Khalil Davis found the net to put the Blazers back ahead by three.

Phillips was fouled on the ensuing Waynesboro possession, making his first of two from the charity stripe, and Graves pulled down the rebound on the miss. Graves then found Tanner Walter underneath for the quick score as the Giant seniors continued to take over, tying the game at 57 apiece with 1:05 remaining.

After Tucker McCoy failed to connect for the Blazers, Graves got the rebound and the Giants called a timeout with 40 seconds left. When the game resumed, they ran 30 seconds off the clock before Phillips’ late-game heroics sealed the win.

Spotswood’s Seth Hinkle missed a potential game-tying 3 on the final possession of the night.

“It was a hard-fought win and we executed pretty well in the fourth quarter,” DeWitt added.

The Blazers were ahead by as many as six in the third quarter, with Weiler putting 16 on the board. However, back-to-back 3-pointers from Desean Dillard closed the gap to just two going into the fourth, 45-43, and set up a nail-biting final eight minutes.

“He [Dillard] really is a good shooter and he picked a good time to knock down some shots,” DeWitt said. “Spotswood definitely played a good game and the Weiler kid played super.”

Early on, it did not appear the Giants would need a last-second shot to get the win, as Waynesboro jumped ahead 15-5 at the end of the first.

Graves was called for his third foul in the second, leading to a 10-0 Blazers run that put the visiting team right back in the thick of things, and Spotswood led by a point at halftime, 27-26.

Phillips and Dillard joined fellow senior Graves in double figures for Waynesboro, notching 15 and 11, respectively.

McCoy scored 13 points for the Blazers, while Davis added 12.

The Giants (16-4, 9-2 Valley District) will conclude their regular season at Harrisonburg on Friday, while the Blazers (8-12, 5-6 Valley District) host Fort Defiance.