Western Albemarle’s height makes life tough on a lot of teams. But a team as young as Fluvanna County is, a team that’s giving up a few inches at every single spot when the Warriors take the floor?
“We struggled to score the ball, their height is just killer for us,” said Fluvanna coach Munro Rateau.
Fluvanna attacked and in many cases got to the basket, but almost inevitably that drive would end at the outstretched arms of one of the Warriors’ rim protectors. The Flucos managed just 17 points through three quarters and fell 60-31.
Austin Kress led that block brigade with five rejections, with Western shuttling in an array of tall post players as usual. The Warriors aren’t just deep, they’re tall and deep and that constant influx of height wears opposing teams down.
“I thought we were very effective in a couple of our presses and our man defense,” said Western Albemarle coach Darren Maynard.
The Warriors picked up their second straight win despite not practicing the entire week because of school closings due to the area’s massive snowfall. Western coasted past Orange County Thursday night.
“I thought we played super well last night and pretty well tonight,” Maynard said. “There was a little bit of a drop off but not terribly, I thought our effort level was pretty good.”
The Warriors’ scoring was spread throughout the lineup as Carrington Murphy finished with 10 points to go with his seven rebounds, Ryan Ingram notched nine points and Jared Carter had six for the Warriors. Chris McGahren had nine for the Warriors too, scoring seven of those nine during a second quarter where Western outscored the Flucos 21-2, holding Fluvanna without a field goal for an entire frame.
Nick Washington finished with 12 points for Fluvanna, all of which came after the break. Jason Lee had nine points including a pair of 3-pointers.
