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Wells’ overtime dagger lifts Charlottesville past Western

Immanuel Wells’ role for Charlottesville’s boys basketball team is usually locking up with opposing players in the post, crashing the boards or attacking off the dribble. With an array of shooters, Wells isn’t the offense’s first option from the outside, and he wasn’t the first option as time wound down with the score tied in overtime against Western Albemarle.

 

But Jaylen Hudson trusted that Wells was ready to get the job done, kicking it out to Wells as Western’s defense collapsed. Wells promptly buried the 3-pointer from the wing with 3.4 seconds to play. The shot held up as the gamewinner as the No.3-seeded Black Knights knocked off No. 2 Western Albemarle 58-55 in the Jefferson District semifinals.

 

“We’ve been working in practice on running the time down so that we’re good in game situations,” Hudson said. “(Wells) came up big. I was trying to go to the rack but they were helping so I had to pass it to him because he was wide open and he knocked down the shot.”

 

While shooting from the outside is far from Wells’ usual contribution, he was clearly ready to step up in the moment.

 

“He’s not one of our better shooters but I was happy he made that one,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “I was proud he hit that, I was glad he made that.”

 

The Warriors’ defense had helped get Western into overtime just four days after Western faced another battle with the Black Knights, a loss that knocked Western out of a share of the regular season district crown. With 3:07 to play a stingy defense and a strong effort from Ryan Ingram had the Warriors up 49-45. With 1:54 to play, the Warriors still had a 52-47 lead, but then Khalil Vest hit a tough shot to pull the Black Knights within two and a technical on a dunk attempt allowed the Black Knights to tie it up with 1:04 to play. Western’s defense held after Charlottesville burned the clock and then initiated out of a timeout with 12 seconds to play.  

 

“I thought we’d be a little bit more intense since we got the short end of Friday night,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “But we did battle back and had a great chance to win the game and some things that were beyond our control happened and I don’t know how to change that for them.”

 

In the closing minutes of overtime with the game tied at 55-55, Western appeared to force a 10-second call in the backcourt, but after a referee’s conference, Charlottesville was credited with a timeout that set up Hudson’s drive and dish to Wells for the win.

 

Ingram led Western with 18 points, five assists and four rebounds. Tommy Mangrum was a big reason the Warriors were up late as the reserve forward chipped in 10 points, including a particularly tough bucket in the fourth quarter where he finished through contact. Mangrum also had nine rebounds.

 

Jed Strickland stepped up in the paint too with a nine-point effort to go with eight boards. Teo Rampini had eight rebounds. Josh Coffman had three assists and four steals.

 

Hudson had 11 points for Charlottesville, 10 of which came in the second half after a slow start thanks to some stifling defense from Coffman. Khalil Vest finished with 12 points to lead lead the Black Knights’ effort in the paint. Patrick Ronayne paced the Black Knights with 13 points including three 3-pointers and Sam Neale had 11 points. Wells had five points, with all five coming in overtime after going scoreless in regulation.

 

“We played hard and we did a good job defensively particularly in the first half,” Minor said. “We protected the ball pretty well too and they did a good job not letting us dribble drive.”  

 

The Black Knights will face Albemarle in the Jefferson District final Friday while Western locks in on the Conference 29 tournament, where they’ll face either Turner Ashby or Fluvanna County in the first round Monday.

  

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