MHS ADVANCES TO STATE TOURNAMENT

Middlesex High School boys basketball team faced Carver Tuesday in away action

For the second year in a row, the Middlesex High School (MHS) Charger basketball team lost to the Lancaster Red Devils in the finals of the Class 1 Region A basketball tournament Saturday, Feb. 24 at Lancaster.

The Chargers (18-5, 10-2) lost, 66-51, but advanced to the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday as the top two teams in the region automatically advance.

MHS played Tuesday, Feb. 27, the Carver College and Career Academy Wolverines (23-2, 12-0), a team that has defeated the Chargers two times this season in Tidewater District play. The Wolverines beat Middlesex, 64-60, on Jan. 19 and, 74-47, on Dec. 12, 2023.

Carver won the Tidewater District title with Middlesex finishing second. The Wolverines became the Region B champs by beating Brunswick, 60-54, on Saturday, Feb. 24.

The Red Devils came out slugging at the start of the game and had a 14-6 lead over MHS by the end of the first quarter. The Chargers came back outscoring the Red Devils in the second quarter, 17-13, and cutting Lancaster’s lead at half-time to 4 points. That was as close as the Chargers would get.

Lancaster came out blazing in the third quarter behind the sharp shooting of Troy Henderson outscoring the Chargers, 25-14, which was enough to carry the Red Devils on to a win. Henderson carried the Red Devils offense by scoring 35 points in the game. Time and time again, his step-back jump shot hit nothing but net.

The Chargers were paced on offense by senior Ichi Layne who scored 20 points, while Malik Dandy had 16 and JaQuan Griffin scored 10. Nathan Powell scored 3 points and Cameron Lambert, 2 points.