Jarett Hunter looked up and checked the scoreboard. Louisa was down nine without much time left in the Region 4B semifinals.
He didn’t care about the odds. He cared about continuing to fight. If his career and his fellow seniors’ careers were going to end, they were going out on their terms no matter what the scoreboard — a 68-60 final in Monacan’s favor — said.
“The way we were brought up, you always play to that final whistle, that final buzzer,” Hunter said. “It was the same way in football against Patrick Henry, we were playing as hard as we could — you never quit, that’s just the mentality we have.”
The Lions’ seniors have helped spearhead one of the most impressive eras in Louisa County athletic history, an unprecedented run of simultaneous success for the school’s basketball and football programs (with a splash of state triple jump success courtesy of Isaac Haywood) led by a special group of 2019 and 2020 graduates came to a close Friday night at Monacan High.
This chapter ended in fitting fashion, with two of the key architects fighting, clawing and scrapping despite overwhelming odds. Buck Hunter was knocking down threes late trying to keep Louisa in it and Jarett Hunter was fighting for steals and loose balls and imploring his teammates on the bench during the final timeout that they could still get the job done.
“That’s the type of kids that you want in high school basketball, I think that goes a long way beyond basketball,” said Louisa coach Robert Shelton. “This entire group, that’s how they’re built.”
Louisa couldn’t get going offensively against the Chiefs, as they struggled to knock down much of anything before Buck Hunter, who finished with 17 points, caught fire in the fourth and hit four 3-pointers. Jarett Hunter led the way with 21 points, but the bulk of those came in the fourth at the free throw line and it wasn’t enough to dig out of a 32-23 halftime hole.
Louisa cut the lead down quickly to three in the third quarter, trailing 32-29 but Monacan almost immediately went on an 8-2 run to stretch the advantage back out to 40-31.
“I thought we got good looks,” Shelton said. “Don’t take anything away form Monacan (though), they’re a tough group and they do what they do. They’re long and athletic and I think a few times their length bothered us a little bit. Sometimes things just don’t go your way.”
That’s about where it stayed for the duration, with Monacan’s balanced offense keeping Louisa at arm’s length. Four Chiefs touched double figures, with Jaxon Callaham scoring 15, Sam Wittenbraker scoring 14, Walker Posey notching 14 and Cliff Robinson finishing with 11.
“Things didn’t go our way pretty much the majority of the game but they didn’t stop fighting,” Shelton said. “We’re definitely going to miss them but they set a great example for the young kids coming up on how to carry themselves and how to compete night in and night out.”
Haywood chipped in eight for the Lions while Mahlik Munnerlynn had seven.
While this may have been the end of an important chapter for Louisa, there’s reason to think a new era is rising because of how the departing seniors have helped pave the way. Jarett Hunter certainly thinks so.
“We had a real close bond in both sports and I grew up with most of the guys,” Hunter said. “We’re helping put Louisa on the map for the younger guys and they’ll have some better opportunities than we had.”
If it’s anything like this stretch, it could have the Louisa faithful celebrating for years to come.
