ROANOKE, Va. – After losing seven players to last year's senior class, there were lots of unknowns this year for Hidden Valley.
"Going into this year there were a lot of question marks, a lot of spots to fill and people needed to step up," head coach Kevin Burcham said.
But the Titans found their answers. They went on a roll early in the season that led to them being crowned River Ridge regular season and district tournament champions. Their success has been credited to every player stepping up.
"A lot of guys have stepped up, and it's been huge like, they contributed, and then the guys from last year they held their own and have done more than we've expected, and it's just awesome," senior Jonah Fitzgerald said.
One of those players is junior Andrew Duncan. He had a 17-point breakout game against Pulaski County in early January. But a few weeks ago, he and his family received some tough news. Duncan's mom, Leigh Ann Duncan, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
"You never know when these kind of things are going to happen in your life so, it's like making me want to play better for my mom, when she's up in the stands watching me," Andrew Duncan said.
Andrew is doing his part stepping up for the Titans, and the Hidden Valley community is now doing their part, stepping up for the Duncan family. Tuesday night's region playoff game will be a "pink out" in support of Leigh Ann Duncan. The Titans will wear pink warm-up shirts and have pink laces.
"The outpouring of support has been phenomenal. Our school and the community just came together and in a day and a half, I believe, we sold about 257 pink shirts and it's been just overwhelming to see how many people come together," Burcham said.
"It's really awesome," Andrew Duncan said.
"I never thought that this would really happen. All these people come together like this, it's truly a blessing."
"Hopefully, The Duncan family is what we need is a basketball family in the locker room -- to be tight-knit and be there for each other and play for each other," Burcham said.