Not another Eastern View.
Such was the murmur among the Louisa County faithful in the closing minutes of Friday night’s Region 4B semifinal. As the Lions built a 31-point lead over Hanover midway through the third quarter, a berth in the region final and guaranteed appearance in the state playoffs seemed totally secure. But two minutes into the fourth, the visitors had trimmed the margin to 19. And then 14 with two and half to go. Then 12 with 1:40.
“We were playing reserved, trying not to foul, kind of a prevent defense,” said Louisa coach Robert Shelton. “Take nothing away from Hanover; they didn’t get here losing games by 30. We knew they were going to make a run, so we were fortunate to hold them for three-and-a-half quarters.”
The Hawks tallied their 40th point of the quarter and pulled within single digits at 87-79 as the clock ticked under 40 seconds to play. But Jarett Hunter allowed The Den to exhale by connecting on critical free throws. Hanover senior forward William Fahed (20 points) also exited with his fifth personal foul. The Lions extinguished the comeback effort and extended their season with a 92-79 victory.
And while the football team’s heartbreaking regional semifinal defeat across the parking lot at the Jungle came to mind for some, the basketball program had demons of its own to exorcise.
“It’s amazing because the past couple years, we lose in this position right here,” said senior Chris Shelton. “When you look at the dudes who were here in previous years, they were seniors and didn’t get to make it this far, and that pushes you even further to get where you want to be.”
Shelton did his part, leading all scorers with 25 points and an unofficial tally of 9 rebounds. Fellow senior Shylek Washington came in off the bench and was all but unstoppable around the glass, grabbing 18 rebounds and making three blocks.
“Shylek’s just a great athlete; he comes in and knows his role,” said (Coach) Shelton. “Every game, he tells me he’s going to get 15 rebounds. Today he said it and I was like, ‘I think you’ve got more.’ Those 18 might’ve been bigger than the 25 points we got from Chris.”
After Shelton, three other Lions finished in double figures. Xavien Hunter drained five treys en route to 22 points. Jarett Hunter added 17, and Isaac Haywood led the team in the fourth quarter with four field goals to finish with 14 points. Sims led the Hawks with 21 points.
In the early going, Louisa came out firing and built an 18-1 lead over the game’s first seven minutes. The Lions’ zone defense invited a bevy of missed jumpers; in fact, the Hawks did not connect from the field until Cole Wallace hit a three with 44 seconds left in the opening stanza. In contrast to their 40-point fourth quarter, Hanover managed only 6 and 11 points in the first and second.
“We came out with a lot of energy; guys were flying around, and I think that was key,” said (Coach) Shelton of his squad’s defensive performance. “We had played a lot of back-to-backs this year where we didn’t have that energy, so it was good to see those guys bring that at the start. We didn’t have to call timeout to make that adjustment.”
Louisa took their 18-6 edge after one and expanded it with an 8-0 run over the first three minutes of the second. For Hanover, Wallace hit a pair of treys to break up the Lions’ runs, but the Hawks found themselves in a 41-17 hole at the break.
“We were clicking on offense as well,” said (Coach) Shelton. “We were playing together and the ball was moving.”
Louisa’s energy was still strong early in the third, with Shelton draining a pair of threes to help open a 55-24 lead. Hanover’s offense started to find some rhythm from that point on, driven by Fahed and sophomore guard Donnell Sims; the pair had 18 and 17 second-half points, respectively. Junior guard Josh Elmore came off the bench and poured in all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. Trailing 65-39 entering the fourth, the Hawks also deployed a full-court press, which yielded a quick 14-4 run in just over two minutes.
“We were trying to rush, still playing like in the first quarter, and we needed to transition and be smarter with the ball,” said (Chris) Shelton. “We turned it over a couple times, but we stayed composed and got the win.”
At the least, Shelton has one quarter of tape to dissect with his squad as it enters uncharted postseason territory. Courtland will enter the Den on Monday for a 7:30pm tip-off to decide the Region 4B champion.
“It’s an old Battlefield District match, and it’s good to see two of our area teams come out of this region,” Shelton said. “They’re well-coached and play hard. We scrimmaged them this year early on, so it’ll be a good matchup.”
