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Patrick Henry rallies past Albemarle boys basketball

By Ben Sheridan / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor

 

Patrick Henry-Roanoke is becoming a bit of a thorn in Albemarle boys basketball’s side. Last year, Patrick Henry was responsible for two of AHS’s seven losses including the one in the Region 5D quarterfinals that ended Albemarle’s season. 

 

In a rematch Friday night,  when Albemarle appeared to be in complete control, Patrick Henry provided a dose of heartbreak again, rallying from 18 points down to beat Albemarle in overtime 87-79.

 

“We started rushing things a little bit and just didn’t get good shots in the overtime, probably most of the fourth quarter for that matter, we got a little tentative, and they just kept getting closer and closer until they finally caught us,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. 

 

The fourth quarter was when things began to turn south for Albemarle, as they carried a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter before things unraveled.

 

In the first quarter it was Albemarle who pushed out to a lead early, getting good looks from anywhere on the floor as they took a 24-16 lead into the second. Leading the charge in the quarter was Josh Morse, who had nine of his 22 points in the first. He would also end the game with a team-high 12 rebounds.  

 

The second quarter for the most part followed a similar path that the first did.  Albemarle found ways to get good shots, while playing some good defense, resulting in a 46-33 lead at the break. Cam Johnson had seven of his 13 points in the quarter and also had four steals in the game.  

 

By the time the halftime break came around, Patrick Henry knew some things needed to change in order to try to turn the game around.  

 

“To give Albemarle credit they’re really good, but I thought we came out and they had 46 points at the half and we’re usually a pretty good defensive team, and at halftime we just talked about that we can’t make a run without getting stops,” said Patrick Henry coach Jack Esworthy. “And I thought in the second half, I thought we were the aggressors and we started to go back to what we do well.” 

 

That aggressiveness showed in the third as the scoring slowed, but Patrick Henry couldn’t get anything going offensively which led to Albemarle taking a 61-47 lead into the fourth.

 

In the fourth quarter everything changed. Patrick Henry started the quarter on a 9-1 run, and this completely turned the momentum of the game in their favor. One of the players fueling the comeback was Jamonte Smith who had five of his 29 points in the quarter. After that run, Patrick Henry kept chipping away at the deficit, eventually erasing it, and forcing overtime after tying the game at 71.

 

Before the first minute of overtime was over Patrick Henry forced two turnovers and got four easy points and never looked back, completing the comeback.

 

While the loss certainly hurts, there were still positive takeaways for Albemarle, and things to work on early in the season.  

 

“The point I made to my team was that I thought we played well enough to win and we should have won, but we didn’t finish it off because we didn’t make plays down the stretch, so next time we’re in that situation hopefully we’ll do a better job of that,” Maynard said.

 

The Patriots hit the road Tuesday to take on William Fleming where Maynard will again be looking for his 500th career victory after reaching 499 earlier this week against Culpeper. 

 

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