Ashe Mountain Times

As Ashe County High made its way to a 67-39 win over Forbush Wednesday night, the home fans were treated to extra minutes from key players on the Huskies' roster.

None of them started, but all of them played and are a vital reason Ashe holds first place in the Mountain Valley Conference in addition to the state's No. 8 ranking among 2-A schools from the N.C. Preps website.

“They work us every day,” Ashe junior Eli Gambill said of the eight substitutes and their role in preparation. “We work them right back, too. In games, they play good when they're called upon.”

Most nights, the Huskies have gone with an eight-man rotation — starters Sam Gammons, Zeb Richardson, Andrew Lopp, Nehemiah Stafford and Gambill, with juniors Anderson Moore, Seth Sheets and Anthony Federico coming off the bench. Nights like Wednesday give extra floor time to juniors Cole Price, Sam Bowers, Jordan Spell, Tucker Goodman and Hawkens Flanagan.

Sheets led the reserves with five points and Flanagan had four Wednesday.

Gammons set the pace with 11 first-half points on the way to 16 for the game. He also had six rebounds. Richardson posted yet another double-double, scoring 12 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking five shots. Lopp and Stafford each scored 10 points and Gambill had seven points and three assists.

Also dubiously notable because of the rarity among the starters was a missed free throw by Stafford. Clutch several times in the waning seconds of close games, Stafford had made 30 straight before he rimmed out in the first quarter. He's 32-for-34 on the season, good for 94.1 percent.

“He's human after all,” Gambill said with a smile of admiration for the feat.

The Huskies were effective clogging passing lanes and utilizing Richardson's height advantage inside. Forbush became the ninth of 12 MVC opponents to fail to crack 40 points.

“I thought we played pretty good overall,” Gambill said. “Obviously, it's hard to get jacked for one of these games. We played good defensively. We had a few lapses, but we talked about it at halftime and worked it out.”

ASHE 67, FORBUSH 39

Forbush (39) — Ben Temple 8, Matthew Stanley 6, Bryson Lee 6, Barrett Hennings 6, Mason Daub 4, Jared Gallion 4, Todd Patterson 2, Cameron Butner 2, Tyler Johnson 1, Hunter Goodman, Jacob Funk.

Ashe County (67) — Sam Gammons 16, Zeb Richardson 12, Andrew Lopp 10, Nehemiah Stafford 10, Eli Gambill 7, Seth Sheets 5, Hawkens Flanagan 4, Sam Bowers 2, Anderson Moore 1, Anthony Federico, Cole Price, Jordan Spell, Tucker Goodman.

Forbush                    11              9              7            12—39

Ashe County            20            21            15            11—67