Just a couple of minutes into Friday night’s boys basketball showdown between Albemarle and Charlottesville, Albemarle’s Jackson Rose scored a layup to even the score at three points a piece. It seemed that the latest edition of the Patriots and Black Knights’ rivalry would be another back and forth affair.
But that basket was the last field goal recorded by the normally hot-shooting Patriots for the entire first half and their last points scored until late in the second quarter. Charlottesville used a methodical 17-0 run which spanned most of the first and second quarters to take control and were able to hold off a late rally by Albemarle in order to come away with a 47-34 home victory.
Christian Stewart led Charlottesville with 13 points, but the Black Knights leaned mostly on a balanced scoring attack, with three players reaching double figures. The offensive output was a welcome sight to Charlottesville assistant coach Andy Jones.
“Offensively we’ve been struggling a little bit, just putting the ball in the basket,” Jones said. “But one thing we can always do is play solid defense.”
Solid defense is an understatement. After the Jackson Rose layup at the 5:53 mark of the first quarter, Charlottesville held Albemarle scoreless for over 11 minutes of game time. Charlottesville engaged in a swarming full-court press from start to finish, forcing several Albemarle turnovers and getting easy buckets in transition.
When the Patriots were able to beat the press and operate their half court offense, they were not able to produce open looks for their prolific shooters. A lot of that can be attributed to Charlottesville’s length and athleticism which enabled them to switch on most of Albemarle’s ball screens.
“Defense is going to win games for us,” Jones said. “We’ve got to lock in defensively and we did that tonight.”
The Patriots’ scoring drought ended when Christian Humes made four free throws just before halftime but the damage was done. Albemarle recorded just one field goal in the first half and trailed Charlottesville 22-7 at the halftime break.
In the second half, Albemarle was able to get into a rhythm offensively. The field goal drought ended when Wilson Hagen found Chris Woods for an easy layup in the first minute of the second half. However, the Patriots faced an uphill battle against the Black Knights, who relentlessly pushed the ball in transition.
Khishon Gray scored nine of his 11 points in the second half and Zymir Faulkner added 10 points for Charlottesville.
Despite scoring more points in the third quarter than in the entire first half, Albemarle still had yet to record a three-pointer and trailed Charlottesville, 36-18.
“They’ve got great shooters,” Jones said. “We did a great job of closing out on those shooters, not giving them clean looks. But I think they also just had an off night.”
Unsurprisingly, Albemarle’s late push to attempt a comeback began with a breakthrough from beyond the arc. Hagen connected on the Patriots’ first three-pointer on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Albemarle also began to give the Black Knights a taste of their own medicine, pressing full court and forcing a few Charlottesville turnovers in the backcourt.
Jackson Rose scored 11 straight points for Albemarle, including a trio of three-pointers that were part of an 11-2 run which cut the Charlottesville lead to just 41-34 with 1:37 remaining in the game. The comeback bid came up short, however, as Charlottesville took care of the ball and beat the Albemarle press a few times for easy baskets to ice the game.
“The rivalry between Albemarle and Charlottesville is pretty intense,” Jones said after the win. “Felt a little different without having the packed gym, but always fun to get a win against a great program.”
Next up, Albemarle plays at Western Albemarle on Monday night, while Charlottesville stays home to play George Washington-Danville on Saturday afternoon.
