By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Culpeper County got 14 points apiece from Luther Gibbs and Anfernee Pendelton and used an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter to surge past Charlottesville 68-58 on Tuesday night at CHS, handing the Black Knights their first loss of the season.
After Charlottesville’s Mica Girstantas scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to give his team a 49-47 lead, the Blue Devils got a free throw from Jermaine Butler, a three-point play from Gibbs, two more free throws from Eli Marks and another layup by Gibbs to take a six-point lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Charlottesville managed to cut the lead to 58-55 on a Hughes layup with 2:52 remaining, but Culpeper went 8-of-10 from the foul line down the stretch to salt away the victory.
Culpeper overcame a huge night from Black Knight point guard Jordan Saylor, who led all scorers with 24 points. Girstantas added 12 for Charlottesville, but no other Black Knight scored in double figures. Girstantas and Hughes led the Knights on the boards with six rebounds each.
“I thought that Troy came off the bench and did a pretty good job,” Charlottesville head coach Mitch Minor said. “He held his own on the inside.”
The Blue Devils raced out to an early 9-2 lead and held CHS without a field goal until the 4:32 mark of the opening quarter. Charlottesville big man Kendell Dennis, who led the Knights in scoring in Monday’s win over Turner Ashby, picked up his second personal 1:17 into the game and spent most of the first half on the bench. Dennis finished with just four points.
“[Against Charlottesville], you better go out there and attack early,” Culpeper head coach James Thompson said. “We came out with the attitude of ‘Hey, it’s already 10-0 at the jump ball. Play like you’re behind at the jump ball.'”
Butler’s layup with 7:03 left in the second quarter gave Culpeper its largest lead of the first half at 21-12 before the Black Knights began to close the gap. With the Blue Devils leading 29-21 in the final two minutes before halftime, Saylor hit consecutive threes to trim the deficit to two with 1:36 to play. Culpeper clung to a 32-29 lead at the break.
Midway through the third period, Saylor gave Charlottesville its first lead of the game with a layup to make it 37-36, but Pendelton drilled a three on the next possession to put the Blue Devils back in front. After a Saylor putback with 3:22 in the third tied the game at 41, the teams traded 6-0 runs to knot the score at 47 going into the final quarter.
“We can’t always depend on [Jordan],” Minor said. “We’ve got other guys who can shoot the ball. We have to get more from our bigs — they have to score in order for us to be more effective on the perimeter.”
The Black Knights, who dropped to 9-1 on the season, return to district play on Friday night when they host 4-3 Orange County in a 7:30 p.m. game. Culpeper, also 9-1, hosts Fauquier next Tuesday.
