Everything looked alright in the first six minutes for Waynesboro. It seemed as though the Giants were going to have their way with Western Albemarle in the first round of the NBC29/Daily Progress Holiday Classic as they raced out to a double-digit lead. But the rest of the game was a defensive struggle with neither team ever finding a grove. In the end, it was the free throws that provided the difference as the Giants held off the Warriors, 37-31 to give Waynesboro its first opening round win since it started participating in the tournament eight years ago.
“Basically it came down to a 2-point game with 2:37 left to play,” said Giants coach C. Jay DeWitt. “We made a couple of stops down the stretch but our decision making was slugglish.”
Waynesboro started out strong as speedy guard Shy Washington and bruising forward Chris Johnson had their way in transition to give their team a 15-5 start. Things changed from the second quarter forward though.
While the Warriors weren’t able to get their offense fully up and running, they did stop the bleeding by shutting the Giants down on defense. Waynesboro led by nine early in the fourth quarter and it was then that Western finally showed signs of life as they tailored together six straight points to make it a 2-point game in the final two minutes of play.
“I feel like if we had finished a few more of our shots we’d have had a little more to work with,” DeWitt said. “But (Warriors coach Darren Maynard) does a hell of a job there, he’s been there forever and I think they had a bit to do with making us sluggish.”
Western had two chances to tie the game in the final minute but was unable to get a clean look at the basket before turning the ball over. On the other the of the floor, the Giants were all too happy to milk the clock. The Warriors were forced to foul and Johnson and Washington put the game away for Waynesboro by hitting three foul shots in the last minute to keep Western at bay.
“We played so lethargically in the first half,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “It was just really poor effort on our part and I really don’t know what else to say about it. I’m disappointed that we’re still having these kinds of ups and downs 10 games into the season. Everytime we take a couple of steps forward we seem to take a couple back.”
For the Giants, Johnson led all scorers with 17 points and also had nine rebounds. Alex Graves put up nine points. Washington contributed 11. The trio scored all but two of their team’s points.
On the Warriors side, no player made it double figures but eight players found the scoresheet. Turner had a team best seven points while Jackson had six. Jake Nidiffer had seven rebounds.
Western (3-7) will play Covenant today at home at 3 p.m. in the second round.
Waynesboro (5-0) draws Albemarle in the next round today at 8:15 also at Western.
