They’re going to force the issue. Albemarle has faith in its big men Andrew Mann and Jake Hendrix. Monday night against Covenant in the first round of the NBC29/Daily Progress Holiday Classic, it wasn’t hard to see why as the two worked the glass, helped to break Covenant’s press and finished on offense with points in the paint. And behind a big run to close the first half, the Patriots advanced past the Eagles with a 71-57 victory.
“I knew we needed to play well to win and it took maybe a quarter for my kids to figure that out themselves,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “Once we started playing well, that latter portion of the second quarter, we got to that 10-point margin and more or less held on to it.”
Covenant was able to trade blows with Albemarle for the majority of the first half and was in a 1-point game after the first quarter. However, the last four minutes of the second quarter saw Mann and the Patriots catch fire as they closed the quarter on a 7-0 run.
The momentum carried over into the third quarter as Covenant struggled from the field and Mann, Hendrix and Michael Ledford inflated their team’s lead to as much as 24 points.
“We knew that Covenant was a well-coached team and that they played good defense but we just worked well as a team,” said Mann. “We tried to get it inside and our guards were able to hit a lot of good shots for us and when they didn’t me and the other big men tried to clean it up on the boards.”
The Eagles were able to make it interesting in the fourth quarter as Terrence Briggs started knocking down 3-pointers and free throws to help cut the deficit in half. Covenant got as close as eight points, but as the game wore down the Patriots got rolling again behind Kendall Hawkins to preserve the victory.
“I’m just going to say it like it is,” said Covenant coach Ben D’Alessandro. “That was an absolute total embarrassing effort by our team. That is not the Covenant basketball that I know. We did not play hard for most of the game and I give Albemarle credit – they executed. They went down and did what they wanted to do and got what they wanted to get and when they got the shot they wanted and missed, they got it back and stuck it back in.”
Mann had 18 points and 14 rebounds, nine of which were offensive. Hendrix 13 points and seven boards. Kendall Hawkins threw in 14 points while Ledford and Zack Payne each had six.
For Covenant, Briggs put up 18 points and had 10 rebounds. Isaac Stewart-Silver, who carried Covenant in the first half, scored 15 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Maleek Frazier finished with 11.
Covenant (2-3) looks to rebound against Western Albemarle at Western at 4:30 p.m. today.
Albemarle (7-2) moves on to face Waynesboro at 8:15 p.m. also at Western.
