By Liz Keller / Scrimmageplay.com correspondent
After managing just one third-quarter field goal during its season-opener against Western Albemarle on Wednesday night, Albemarle took care of business in the final frame.
The Patriots got some timely baskets from their big men down the stretch as they held on for the 37-31 victory over their rivals.
“First game of the year, we’re not a fine-tuned machine that’s for sure. But we’ll take the victory any time we can get it,” Albemarle coach Greg Maynard said. “We had a couple of flurries, especially in the first half, where our shots went in and that got us a little lead. It seemed like we couldn’t score at all in the second half, but we got a couple there at the end.”
Albemarle (1-0) broke to a 12-point halftime lead, thanks in part to Michael Ledford, who knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, including one just before time expired in the second.
But in the second half, the Patriots saw that comfortable cushion slip away, as the visitors cut the deficit to five with baskets from Ben Turner, Alec Meyers and Christian Asher.
During that stretch, the Warriors rebounded well, limiting the Patriots’ second-chance opportunities.
After a timeout midway through the quarter, Kendall Hawkins connected on a jumper to push the lead back to seven. But Western continued to chip away at the lead, trimming it to 27-23 by the end of the third.
“We had a poor first half. A lot of that was being scared in the first game – we didn’t run any of our stuff right,” Western Albemarle coach Darren Maynard said. “They were on us tough and that caused us not to be able to score. We worked some of that out in the second half, and I thought our defense kept us in the game when we couldn’t score. It gave us a chance.”
Andrew Mann, who was forced to sit out in foul trouble for most of the game, gave Albemarle a boost early in the fourth as he got a steal, then took it all the way down the court for a nifty layup to extend the lead to 29-23. The Patriots also got key baskets from Jake Hendrix and Hawkins to prevail for the non-district win.
Hawkins led the way with nine, while Mann finished with seven points and four rebounds. Hendrix registered four points and four boards.
Turner and Asher provided a spark for Western, the defending regular-season Jefferson District champions. Turner finished with a game-high 14 points and was the only player in double figures, while Asher came off the bench to score nine, all of which came in the second half.
“I’m very pleased with our efforts. We competed with them and played hard,” Darren Maynard said. “We’re so young I didn’t even know if we would do that. We’ve got to work on the execution and continue to get better.”
Western Albemarle hosts the Lou Beeler Memorial Tip-Off tournament this weekend, and will play Amelia on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Albemarle is back in action on Saturday at home against Monticello at 7:30 p.m.
