Jaylen Hudson scored 33 points and Khalil Vest added 14 as Charlottesville got ahead of Monticello early and kept the Mustangs at arms length en route to a 63-47 road victory Friday night.
The Black Knights raced out to a 13-2 lead and led 21-6 after one quarter, thanks in large part to forcing eight Monticello turnovers. Hudson had eight of those points.
“I thought we played great defense,” Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor said. “We did a great job of helping and recovering, a great job of hedging, clogging up the lane and not allowing them easy shots.”
Charlottesville maintained a double-digit advantage in the second quarter, but the Mustangs were able to keep from falling too far behind on the heels of three second-quarter triples, the last of which came from Dean Lockley from 40 feet away to beat the halftime buzzer and send the teams into the locker room with the Black Knights in front 36-23.
The Mustangs used the momentum from Lockley’s shot to continue to chip away at the lead and got it to single digits at the end of three, using a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays, first by Lockley and then Evan Coleman, in the last two minutes of the period to trim the deficit to 47-38.
Monticello got even closer when Brooks opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws, but then Hudson took matters into his own hands, scoring six of CHS’s next eight points, including a breakaway layup to put the Knights back up by 13 with five minutes to play. Meanwhile, Charlottesville’s defense clamped down hard, allowing Monticello just three more baskets the rest of the way as Hudson finished with a pair of dazzling assists to Vest for layups in the final minutes.
“My teammates know I’m going to try and get them involved,” Hudson said. “I don’t like to be the only one scoring.”
Brooks led Monticello with 14 points while Lockley added 11. Charlottesville never allowed MHS to establish an offensive rhythm, frustrating the Mustangs into 18 turnovers. Monticello went 5-for-14 from the arc and 12-for-14 from the free-throw line. The Black Knights hit 3-for-9 from distance and 11-of-17 from the stripe.
“We didn’t attack the basket as much last game as we did tonight,” Minor said. “We did a much better job of that. We shot the ball well too, particularly Jaylen. Once he’s in a rhythm it’s hard to stop him.”
Both teams will hit the road on Tuesday for their next games. Monticello goes to Powhatan, while Charlottesville will travel to Orange.
