Christian Asher brought the energy, Ben Turner brought the scoring and Will Donnelly brought the steady hand and resolve as Western Albemarle’s boys basketball team pulled away from Covenant in the fourth quarter to grab a 72-59 win and the Hoops for Hope Tip-Off Tournament title.
Ben Turner missed long periods of the game with four trouble, but when he got going, he started carrying the Western offense, pouring in 23 points. Asher sparked Western on defense with a trio of blocks and nine rebounds, a couple of which were crucial in the last two minutes. He had a strong all-around night too, finishing with 13 points as well.
“I thought Christian Asher played great all night,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “His energy level really gives us an added dimension.”
Western went on an 11-0 run during the early stages of the final frame to take control with Donnelly coming off the bench to handle the point guard duties during the stretch. Jake Nidiffer had four of the points during the explosion while Turner scored four himself. Asher added another bucket on a hard drive to the basket that put Western up by nine points after the Warriors trailed 53-48.
Donnelly had just a single turnover at point guard and came up with four steals defensively to lead Western in that category.
“The biggest part of this game was breaking the press and he did a phenomenal job of that,” Turner said. “I was very happy with that — he’s one of the biggest reason we won this game.”
Covenant’s Maleek Frazier tried to will the Eagles to a win, pouring in 25 points, doing his most damage by drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line where he was 11-for-14. Foul trouble limited two of Covenant’s other key cogs, Isaac Stewart-Silver and Terrance Briggs. Briggs and Stewart-Silver finished with seven points each.
“The momentum was swinging our way but you’ve just got to give them a lot of credit,” said Covenant coach Ben D’Alessandro. “We played hard, really hard. We played together. We did not play smart, we didn’t adjust.”
Western enters Jefferson District play Tuesday with a battle at home against William Monroe while Covenant hosts Tandem Friends Tuesday night.