In Austin Katstra’s absence after an ankle injury, Albemarle leaned heavily on Jake Hahn. The two juniors have been the core duo fueling the Patriots since they were freshman. Hahn was able to pick up the slack and pour in some great individual performances, but with his team coming off of back-to-back losses, Albemarle was in dire need of a win before the week-long holiday break. With Katstra back from injury and Hahn on his game, the Patriots took a little bit to get going against Monticello, but once they did, it was a quick finish. Up by just three at the break, Albemarle simply exploded in the third with Hahn doing the heavy lifting to lead the way to a 67-46 victory.
“We played like I envisioned us playing all year in that third quarter with the way me moved the ball around,” said Patriots coach Greg Maynard. “We played good defense, rebounded, moved the ball to get open looks and stuck those shots in. I was pleased with that and it’s something we’ve been waiting for. We played like that when we first started and then Austin went down. He’s not 100 percent, but he gave us an emotional lift just getting out there and hustling. And then Jake, well he’s been carrying us all season and tonight he got some help.”
The Mustangs hada 5-2 lead in the middle of the first, but the tides started to change after that with Albemarle getting to within one at the end of the frame before going up 21-11 in the middle of the second on an 11-0 run fueled by Hahn, Katstra and the Patriots guard play defensively.
Monticello played its best all night to close the second half with Uhari Banks and Malik Barbour fueling a 14-7 stretch that made it a one possession game heading into the second half.
“We were playing together there, playing good basketball,” said Monticello coach Cary Spry. “They missed some shots and we got after the rebounds and were able to get things in transition. We were in the bonus and took advantage of that.”
But after the Mustangs had their best run, Albemarle had a more than 8-minute run that stretched into the fourth. Up by three to start the third, after the first minute of the fourth, it was suddenly 52-29 as Hahn was draining 3-pointers, the Patriots were creating turnovers and owning the glass.
“It wasn’t anything special,” Hahn said. “I was just trying to take what they’d give me, hit the open shots.”
The 24-5 blitz put the game out of reach pretty quickly and it allowed Maynard to sit Katstra and avoid further injury. From there, Albemarle was able to coast to the win.
“It was important to get off to a good start (in the second half), to get on them quickly,” Hahn said. “I think we did that pretty well.”
Hahn led all scorers with his 21 points paced by four 3-pointers. Myles Adams Yates finished with 10 points. Na’il Arnold had nine points. Grant Kersey chipped in seven. Katstra played sparingly in his return and finished with five points.
Brooks led the way for Monticello with his 14 points. Joshua Rush was just behind with 10 points. Barbour and Kevin Jarrell each finished with six points.
Both the Mustangs and Albemarle are off next week before they participate in the Holiday Classic tournament starting on the 28th of December.
