Orange County was determined to make sure that Saturday did not repeat itself. While the Hornets found themselves yet again in a double-digit hole in the fourth quarter against Fluvanna County, this time around they fought back to make it game.
“They made threes (in the fourth quarter),” said Flucos coach Munro Rateau. “Golly, they started raining threes down the stretch.”
If you’re Fluvanna, you don’t win 16 of the first 17 games on the schedule coming into Monday’s contest without learning how to close games out. In the last two minutes of play, 3-pointers might have been falling through the net with ease for the Hornets, but every time on the other end of the court, the Flucos came away with at least one or two points to keep Orange at bay. All-in-all, it amounted to Fluvanna’s second win over Orange in three days, 76-71.
The Flucos did not have the luxury of a giant lead going into the second as they did in the previous meeting against the Hornets. In fact just a few minutes into the third Orange was able to pull out in front by a point after trailing by five at the break. However, YaYa Anderson, TJ Dudley and Josh Hinkle were able to give Fluvanna a 15-4 to finish the third.
For the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, the first place Flucos would not budge, leading still by 10 heading into home stretch. That’s when the Hornets’ offense exploded though. With Tyler Seal, Raheem Cooper and Jamal Hunter hitting every 3-pointer they shot, and Cooper also snagging an inbounds pass and scoring on easy layup, the gap was magically down to three points with 3.9 seconds to play.
Forced to foul, the Hornets sent Hinkle to the line. The Fluvanna senior, who hit a critical pair in the Flucos’ win over CHS last week, nailed both of his foul shots and the first place Flucos walked away winners on the road.
The loss is the third straight for Orange, but coach Keyode Rogers is looking forward to seeing if his team can take Monday night’s effort and late momentum into Tuesday.
“Coming off Saturday’s game, the point was to change the effort and intensity,” Rogers said. “I think we did a good job tonight. The boys came out ready to play, played their hardest and there’s not much more you can ask for than what they did tonight.”
Anderson was a force inside all game for Fluvanna, and he came just two assists or two rebounds shy of posting a second straight double-double. The junior guard led all scorers with his 23-point night and had eight boards and eight helpers. With he and his teammates’ long range shots not falling, both Anderson and his teammates were able to get the job done by penetrating.
“We’ve been having a slump from the 3-point line lately,” Anderson said. “But we know we’ve got to take the ball to the basket when we’re not shooting well, and that’s what we did.”
Joining him in double figures were Hinkle and Dudley who had well rounded games themselves. Hinkle had 15 points and five assists. Dudley added 13 points and seven rebounds. Jamal Tolliver was one point shy of giving the Flucos four players with 10 or more points — he had nine points to go with his three steals.
For Orange, Hunter led the way offensively with 17 points. Cooper added 16 points of his own. Seal added 12 points. The Hornets had 10 players register a point on the night.
Both Fluvanna (17-1, 9-1 Jefferson) and Orange (11-4, 7-3) will play their third game in four days on Tuesday. The Flucos will look to avenge their lone loss of the season against Monticello in Palmyra. The Hornets host Western Albemarle. Both games tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
