By Nick Eilerson/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
To overcome Charlottesville, Louisa County needed all of its weapons to be firing at full strength. The Black Knights, however, succeeded in slowing down Louisa’s leading scorer, Alan White, with a zone defense and in turn rolled to a 74-48 win over the Lions.
“We knew they had one or two shooters,” CHS coach Mitch Minor said. “But they didn’t hit many shots, so we stayed with [the zone]. And it turned out to work pretty good for us.”
Louisa (6-5), who struggled through last season but entered Wednesday’s game with a respectable .500 record after a recent run that included a win by Monticello, trailed just 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Lions’ 2-3 zone defense continued to hold strong in the second quarter’s opening minutes, but eventually Charlottesville broke through. CHS (8-4) began to consistently penetrate the zone with passes into the post, resulting in easy layups by low-post players like junior forward Daquan Jones, who contributed nine points to his team’s 32-20 halftime lead.
“I just think we backed down,” Louisa coach Preston Gordon said. “We weren’t as aggressive offensively as we’ve been in the past. It definitely hurts when your leading scorer (White) gets three points. And we didn’t play very well in transition.”
The game’s pace escalated in the second half when both teams implemented hounding defenses that applied pressure to ball-handlers to create turnovers. Although they committed a few sloppy turnovers, the Black Knights mostly navigated Louisa’s full-court, man-to-man press with relative ease as they made quick outlet passes to create easy baskets in transition.
“They’re probably one of the best teams I’ve ever seen running the floor well,” Gordon said. “And they play aggressive defense and get after it. If they smell the fear, then it’s over. They did a great job tonight.”
To confuse its opponent, CHS switched from its usual man-to-man defense to a mix of zone sets in the second half. Louisa struggled to crack the zone as it continued to swing the ball around the top of the key in hopes of finding an open look from long range. The Lions knocked down only three 3-pointers in the game, though, and ended the night with 12 turnovers. They also finished just 9 for 19 from the free throw line.
The Black Knights didn’t display torrid outside shooting either, ending with four 3-pointers on top of 10-for-19 shooting from the charity stripe. The bulk of their scoring resulted from easy looks around the basket from inside presences like junior forward Dashaun Blakey, who totaled a game-high 16 points.
“Our best way to get anything was down low,” CHS junior forward Dashaun Blakey said. “The outside shots wasn’t opening up for us, so down low was the best option. We got it to the corner and hit the screen and it was open, so we took it.”
Senior guard Jake Scott was the only Lion to score in double figures, tallying 10 points on the night. The Black Knights had four players finish with double figures, and their bench outscored Louisa’s by a 30-14 margin.
CHS will welcome Monticello to the fray on Friday night, while Louisa will hit the road for a battle against Orange.
