It doesn’t matter the sport — any time Charlottesville and Albemarle get together, it’s going to be an intense, passionate contest from both sides.
Friday night showcased the two rivals on the hardwood, and in front of a packed house on the road, the Black Knights pulled out a 55-46 victory after squandering a 17-point second half lead to improve to 5-0 on the season.
A 14-0 run turned a 25-22 halftime lead into a 39-22 CHS advantage midway through the third quarter, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Micah Girstantas on consecutive possessions. The burst broke open a tight game, a game that saw neither team lead by more than four points in the first half. The Black Knights led 12-11 after one quarter, and the second quarter was largely the same tug-of-war.
“They left me open in the corner,” said Girstantas. “That’s all I’m supposed to do — hit open shots.”
But the Patriots climbed back into the game just as quickly. They responded with a 12-2 run of their own, punctuated by a coast-to-coast scoop shot from point guard Kennedy Brown to trim the lead to 41-34 near the end of the third quarter, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Two free throws from Charlottesville’s Kendell Dennis pushed the Knights’ margin to nine after three. For the game, the Knights shot 19-of-32 from the line, compared to a 17-of-26 output for the Patriots.
Albemarle continued to storm back, forcing turnovers on Charlottesville’s first four possessions of the second half. With his team trailing by three, Brown took advantage of a mistake by Girstantas, who fouled Brown as he attempted a tying three-pointer from the corner. Brown made the first two free throws, but missed the third. Patriots sophomore big man Austin Katstra, who led his team with a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds, grabbed the loose ball, got fouled and made one of two to knot the game at 45 with two-and-a-half minutes remaining.
“Albemarle made a good run,” Charlottesville head coach Mitch Minor said. “Towards the end I think we got a couple good traps and a couple good steals, which made a difference.”
From there it was all Black Knights. Point guard Jordan Saylor knifed into the lane and fed DeAndre Bryant for a layup to put the Knights on top for good with 1:44 remaining. That began a 7-0 CHS run which all but put the game on ice. A couple possessions after Bryant’s basket, Girstantas swiped an Albemarle inbounds pass and took it for a layup to add to Charlottesville’s cushion.
“I thought our inexperience at the guard position at handling pressure like Charlottesville can put on you would be troublesome,” Albemarle head coach Greg Maynard said. “That’s something that’ll be an ongoing process — we know we’re gonna get pressed a lot.”
In total, Charlottesville forced 14 Albemarle turnovers and held the Patriots to just 1-for-15 shooting from beyond the arc, while making 4-of-11 three-pointers themselves.
“We want ball pressure. It doesn’t matter whose man it is — we get up on the ball tough,” Minor said. “Even though [Albemarle] got into the lane a couple times I thought we did a pretty good job of helping each other out.”
In addition to Katstra, Jake Hahn was the other Patriot to score in double figures with 11 before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, and Myles Adams-Yates chipped in eight. For Charlottesville, Saylor led the way with 14, followed by Girstantas with 11 and Tyreek Ragland with nine.
The two teams will meet again on Charlottesville’s home court on Jan. 16.
