Albemarle’s boys basketball team knew they had a matchup issue on their hands, with Potomac Falls’ two tall guards David Walls and Brian Sweeney. Who would guard which of those two dynamic players was a source of some frustration for Albemarle.
But Albemarle point guard Kennedy Brown let coach Greg Maynard know he was confident in his decision-making process.
“Kennedy said ‘well coach, you’re the coach of the year, you’ll figure it out’,” Maynard said, referencing Maynard’s recent Conference 16 coach of the year honor.
The Patriots figured it out well enough to pick up the 56-50 win, pulling away down the stretch in a hard fought game to secure the victory. The win gave the Patriots a jolt of momentum heading into the Group 5A state quarterfinals, where they’ll face Hampton High, most likely at Old Dominion University in Norfolk.
“We didn’t want to go into states on a two-game losing streak,” Maynard said. “We lost our first home game of the year and then we won 13-straight so I said ‘seniors, this is your last ever game on this homecourt, let’s take advantage of it’.”
Austin Katstra had a monster game with 22 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. He came on particularly strong in the fourth quarter where he scored half of his points, taking care of business at the free throw line with an 8-for-11 showing at the charity stripe.
Potomac Falls fell into a 7-0 hole shortly after Albemarle honored Jake Hahn for scoring his 1,000th career point during the region semifinal just before tip off. The Panthers couldn’t scratch their way back out right away and trailed 14-7 after the first quarter. But they kicked off the second quarter with a lightning fast 9-2 run helped by a pair of Sweeney 3-pointers that resulted in a 17-16 lead with nearly six minutes left to play in the second.
Albemarle adjusted defensively though and got back on track on offense, building a 27-23 lead by halftime.
After halftime, the game went back and forth, with Albemarle making a big push early in the fourth to go up seven points at 45-38 before Potomac Falls reeled them back in and tied the game at 47-47 with a Michael Smith 3-pointer. With 1:32 left, a couple of key Katstra free throws pushed Albemarle ahead 49-47 and the Patriots didn’t relinquish that slight edge.
Walls finished with 17 to lead Potomac Falls while Sweeney had 10 and Dondrea Tillman had 14 in a strong effort underneath.
Hahn finished with 10 points and five rebounds for Albemarle while Adams-Yates scored 12 and did his usual impressive work on the defensive end by locking up Sweeney, who had just two second half points. Brown dished out five assists on the night.
Now Albemarle can get locked in on trying to pull off an upset of Hampton late next week.
“It’s a good opportunity for us,” Maynard said. “It was also good that we had a tough, hard-fought game going down the stretch, that’s probably what it’s going to be like next time.”
