By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
After watching their school’s girls team clinch a berth in the 5A North Regional tournament, the Albemarle boys basketball team took on Patrick Henry-Ashland and joined their counterparts by registering a 56-37 win behind another monster night from Austin Katstra in the Conference 16 semifinals.
Katstra scored 26 points to pace AHS, which grabbed an early lead and didn’t look back. After Patrick Henry scored the first two baskets of the game, Katstra poured in three of Albemarle’s first four buckets, including a thunderous baseline dunk, as part of a 9-0 run. Juwan Carter added an old-fashioned three-point play as AHS held a 12-7 lead after one quarter.
Patrick Henry managed to keep it close for a half behind seven points from Marquis Davis. Two free throws by James Pinder pulled the visitors to within 18-11 going into the locker room. It was Patrick Henry’s first points since the 6:41 mark of the second period.
“I thought we were really impatient offensively in the first half,” Albemarle coach Greg Maynard said. “We would run one of our set plays, and when that didn’t work, someone would just go barreling into the lane. Offensively we were struggling but we did play good defense.”
Albemarle, barely able to practice for the past week due to school closures from a winter storm, saw the lead shrink to 18-15 in the opening minutes of the second half before Katstra and Carter engineered another run to build a healthy margin. Katstra made a foul shot and a layup, then Carter sank a three to make it 24-15 with 4:55 left in the third quarter. After Arias Holman answered for Patrick Henry with a three of his own, Carter made a pair of free throws and Katstra followed with his second dunk of the game.
“I think we started executing more on offense [in the second half],” Katstra said. “And we kept playing good defense and our press helped us out a lot.”
Albemarle wasn’t done. Justice Taylor made two foul shots, followed by two more freebies and a basket from Katstra to make it 34-18 before Patrick Henry’s Spencer Lowry closed the scoring in the third with a basket in traffic. Unfortunately for Patrick Henry, they didn’t get closer than 13 the rest of the way.
AHS’ lead swelled to as many as 22 on two more Katstra free throws late in the fourth quarter before Maynard pulled his starters. Even Albemarle’s little-used players got into the act during garbage time, with Shaun Zeller scoring on a layup and Hunter Johnson sinking a long three-pointer to give AHS its final basket, completing his team’s vistory against the same school that knocked them out of regional contention last season.
“We tried to really upgrade our schedule this year to get ready for this point,” Maynard said. “That way we wouldn’t get surprised by a tough physical team like Patrick Henry. I think that’s what happened last year.”
Pinder led Patrick Henry with nine points, all at the free throw line, while Davis and Sawyer Boyd added seven apiece for the visitors. After Katstra, Carter was Albemarle’s next-highest scorer with eight points.
Albemarle will travel to top-seeded Halifax tomorrow for the Conference 16 championship game. Both teams are guaranteed regional berths.
