The next time they see one another, it’ll be too soon.
For the fourth time, Western Albemarle and Charlottesville’s boys basketball teams met. The Warriors won the first two meetings before falling just short a little more than two weeks ago at CHS.
While the Black Knights came out firing on all cylinders early, the Warriors absorbed it, responded and then in the fourth took a lead and did what the program’s been known for best for so many years — put the game away at the free throw line. Just like the last time the two met, Western had just one field goal in the fourth quarter, but it was a big one. And by going 10-of-14 down the stretch knocking down foul shots, the Warriors walked away winners 53-49.
“We had a big emotional win on Friday (against Albemarle) and I think it took us a little while to get out of that,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “You’ve got to give them credit for coming after us early, but I thought we settled into our game after halftime. We challenged out post players at the half to come with the rebounds and I thought Mike Vale played a great second half. He was huge their with 12 rebounds.”
About that lone field goal in the fourth, though. It was a game changer. The Warriors were up by two after the third, but when Ryan Ingram let loose a 3-point shot, the Black Knights were hit with an off the ball foul. Ingram’s shot fell through and with the Warriors not in the bonus, they were awarded the points and possession which allowed them to stake a a 45-38 lead by — you guessed it, free throws — on the ensuing play.
“We had some trouble early getting shots to go and on that play the ball falls through the basket and we were just able to come through after that,” Ingram said.
CHS fought to make it a 3-point game with two minutes to go behind the efforts of Caleb Gage. The Black Knights senior was limited in the second and third quarter due to foul trouble, but he came on late just like he did the first to force the Warriors to run clock and force a fouling situation. But it was a test that Western was up to as Carrington Murphy, Mike Vale and Nick Yancey all came through in that department.
“It’s a big team win against a really good team,” Ingram said. “It was nice to win in this tournament after losing in it badly last year. We just have to keep getting better each day and keep the momentum up.”
In the first, Charlottesville claimed a 9-3 lead it would not relent until late in the second. The Black Knights went up 17-7 late in the first but a 7-0 Western run cut it 17-14 going into the second. From there until the fourth, it was a back-and-forth contest with neither squad being able to slow the other and little distance being put between the other.
“They came out playing really fast and hard which we expected, they always do,” Ingram said. “We just had to match the speed and get settled into the game and run our offense.”
The Warriors took a 27-26 lead late in the second but went into the third down by two. The third frame saw the two tied at 36-36 with the Warriors getting a late edge to go into the fourth up by two. And from there, the big plays of the opening of the fourth gave Western a lead it never relinquished.
“When Caleb got his third foul that really hurt and effected us offensively and really defensively,” Black Knights coach Mitch Minor said. “I thought the guys played really well overall, we were patient and did a good job executing. But in the third and fourth quarter, we had the shots to tie or go-ahead and just missed them. They hit their clutch shots and a lot of free throws and that was the difference. We just couldn’t buy a basket at the end.”
Nine different Western players found their way into the score book in a truly balanced effort. Ingram led the way with his 13 points. Vale finished with nine points to go with his 12 boards. Yancey and Josh Coffman each had seven points.
For Charlottesville, Gage had a game high 15 despite his limited minutes. Jaylen Hudsen had 11 to go along with Tyreek Ragland’s nine points.
The Black Knights will be the fourth seed in their Conference 23 tournament which begins next week. The Warriors will play Albemarle just one week after knocking off the Patriots in their regulars season finale. The JD championship game will be held at Charlottesville at 8 p.m.
“This is what I wanted out of this tournament — a chance to play a game that’s going to be tough to win in the finals but either way, just another tough game that hopefully helps launch us into (Conference 29) play,” Maynard said. “We want to be battle tested and ready to go.”
