Geiman leads Indians to first playoff win since 2007

The Indians battled down to the wire against the Henrico Warriors on Monday night, clawing back from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to win their first playoff game in 18 years.

The 65-63 win was led by the heroics of Matt Henderson, who capped off his high school career by scoring nine fourth quarter points and 26 in total, two of which put his team ahead for good with two minutes left on a baseline fadeaway jumper. By the end of his Powhatan career, Henderson became the all-time leading scorer for boys and girls basketball at Powhatan, passing his sister, Faith.

Henderson missed the team’s last four games with a shoulder injury sustained in their loss to Manchester on Feb. 5, but he did everything he could to prepare for the postseason. The injury to his non-shooting arm wasn’t something that Henderson says affected his game too much, as he was a constant force getting to the rim, while connecting on a handful of jumpers.

To open the game, he made an emphatic statement, stealing the ball on Henrico’s opening possession and hammering home a one-handed dunk that started a four-quarter frenzy from the Powhatan fans.

"I definitely knew I wanted to play in the playoffs,” Henderson said. “It's high-risk, but it's a high reward as well. I just wanted to get out there with the guys and give us the best chance to win."

Brock Geiman’s third year in charge of the program led to its most successful season in nearly two decades. With a 12-11 record, it became the team’s first season with 10 or more wins since the 2006-07 season and their best overall record since joining the Dominion District.

After the Indians held on to claim victory in the region's first round, Geiman said he hadn’t experienced a crowd energy like this since his time as an assistant coach for the girls basketball team when they won the region semifinals in 2022. With limited prep time dedicated entirely to Henrico, Geiman said the team’s performance was a testament to the fight they’ve shown throughout the season.

“Time and time again this group has fought,” he said. “We fought through some snow, things outside our control, but everybody did the same thing. We had one day to prepare and it was all on Henrico."

Henrico (9-10) didn’t hold the lead until the final minute of the second quarter, taking advantage of some early foul trouble from Henderson. Their defense, filled with active hands, ball traps and the size to thwart shot attempts in the paint, helped them hold Powhatan to just six points in the six minutes Powhatan played without Henderson on the floor.

In the third quarter, a 9-0 Powhatan run sparked by a Jamison Wallace and-one gave the Indians the lead back at 42-38, but a late run from Henrico pushed them in front 53-47 entering the fourth quarter.

With the deficit as large as eight points and the Warriors content with slowing the pace to burn time off the clock, the Indians fought back by making nearly every offensive possession count and forcing pressure on the defensive end. Henderson and Jayshaun Morris both buried 3-pointers for a quick six points, and with six minutes left in the game, Wallace tied it up at 55 with a fastbreak reverse layup.

"I think whenever you see a team without shot clocks in high school basketball trying to take the air out of the ball, you kind of know something,” Geiman said. “You know that they're worried about stopping you so the second they started doing that regardless of the (deficit), we're going to make a run at it.

“It just happened to go our way in the end, I didn't know it was going to happen that way, but with six minutes left in the third quarter the coach starts telling their guys to back up to halfcourt and just not play, we know what we can do."

Henderson then took over, scoring six straight points for the final lead change of the game. Henderson’s ability to work the driving lanes and create looks inside sprouted from an overall strong shooting night from multiple guys, which forced Henrico to account for shooters when Henderson would put his head down and head towards the basket.

"They were staying true to our shooters in the corners and on the wings so it was pretty nice driving lanes to get to the basket,” Henderson said.

The Warriors had to play the foul game in the final minute, which kept them alive along with some quick buckets, but Jayden Goode and Morris both connected from the line to keep the Indians in front.

"It was a lot of people,” Goode said of his clutch trip to the free throw line. “In my head I'm like, I've got all these people in the home crowd, I've got to hit."

With four seconds left, the Indians pushed their inbounds pass ahead to Henderson, who ran into the open space down the floor to kill those final precious seconds off the clock, which ushered in a crowd rush onto the floor.

The celebration was a quick one though, with the team using 30 minutes to prepare for their quarterfinals matchup against Eastern View the following night. With last week’s inclement weather shaking up the playoff schedule, the Indians had the unenviable task of playing a home-and-away back-to-back with their season on the line against a Cyclones team that hadn’t played in eight days.

The Indians battled hard against the Cyclones (21-2), trailing by two points at halftime, but an injury to Henderson took the wind out of their sails, and the Cyclones were able to blow the doors open in the fourth quarter on the way to a 68-40 win.

The Cyclones have a shot at a state tournament berth, but they’ll have to get past the three-seeded Varina Blue Devils on Thursday night. The Indians leave the 2024-25 season behind with their heads held high though, taking major steps forward with a winning record and a playoff win to their name.