02/15/2021
Radford holds off Floyd County 62-56 in Region 2C boys championship - [From Roanoke Times - Robert Anderson]
RADFORD — The lights flickered briefly during the third quarter of the Region 2C boys basketball championship game Sunday between Radford and visiting Floyd County. The Buffaloes’ chances of a monumental upset lasted much longer. Floyd threw a huge scare into undefeated Radford but senior Cam Cormany scored 28 points and the Bobcats held on for a 62-56 victory and yet another region title.
Radford (15-0) will play at Region 4D champion Union in a semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Floyd’s season ended at 9-5.
“We were close,” Floyd County coach Brian Harman said. “But every year it’s going to have to go through Radford until something changes.” Radford coach Rick Cormany, who is one state title shy of tying the VHSL record for boys championships, nearly made a big change in the game’s final minute.
Radford led 58-56, but Floyd County had possession and 6-foot-5 Buffaloes center Kaiden Swortzel was causing the Bobcats major trouble in the paint. “I almost went zone in that last possession,” the Radford coach said. “Cam talked me out of trapping. He said, ‘Let’s play straight man-to-man.’” Floyd ran the identical play that led to a Swortzel bucket on the game’s opening possession.
Point guard Tanyan Sutphin looked for Swortzel in the lane, but Radford’s Alex Kanipe cut off the passing angle. Swortzel posted again higher on the lane, but Sutphin’s bounce pass eluded the big man and rolled out of bounds.
“We didn’t get it back to the middle of the floor,” Harman said. “Then we went to a motion offense and misread a little bit, and a turnover. “As a coach, I just told my assistant, ‘Maybe we should have run something different.’ But if we run that play and score with it, then it’s the right call.” Floyd still had a chance when Radford’s P.J. Prioleau missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, but Marcell Baylor saved the Bobcats by grabbing an offensive rebound.
Floyd was forced to foul Cam Cormany, whose two free throws with 14.5 seconds left put Radford up 60-56. Cormany, noticeably bulkier than he was as a junior, scored 17 of his points in the second half on all varieties of difficult shots in the lane and from the perimeter. With Radford clinging to a 53-52 lead with 3:53 to play, the Navy signee drilled a long 3-pointer to give the Bobcats some breathing room. “Cam made some big shots, some really big shots at critical times,” Harman said. “Guys were in front of him, but they weren’t guarding him 30 feet [out]. Cam’s a phenomenal player.”
Prioleau also had a big game for Radford with 12 points, using his quickness to score his points on drives to the bucket. After missing his entire junior football and basketball seasons with a knee injury, the senior was not about to let this opportunity escape him. “I thought about passing [the season] up, just because I was scared of injury, but since I missed last year I knew I wanted to play basketball and finish it up right. “I’m a competitor so I hate having to watch it and not have any control in the outcome.”
Floyd County came to Radford buoyed by the return of Sutphin, who suffered a broken wrist in the Buffaloes’ 81-68 loss on the same floor in December. Floyd’s offense looked smooth much of the day with Sutphin at point guard. Dylan Bond hit five 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 17 points. Swortzel scored 14, and forward Josiah Banks added 12. Cormany, whose Radford teams have won state titles in 2009, ‘11, ‘13, ‘16, ‘17 and ‘19, is two wins away from another championship and there is nothing odd about it.
The Bobcats are 95-5 in the last four years. While one of those losses was last season at Floyd County, Radford remains the immovable postseason obstacle “Radford’s been there,” Harman said. “We’ve just been knocking on the door.”
Contact Robert Anderson at [email protected] or 981-3123
