By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
It is always strength on strength when the Charlottesville and Albemarle boys’ basketball teams get together.
The Black Knights and their speed and depth in the backcourt always pose an interesting matchup with the Patriots and their front-court driven lineup.
For the past several seasons, Albemarle’s height and rebounding prowess has carried the day in a battle of these two polar opposite teams. But with their first shot at the Patriots in the 2019-20 season, the veteran Charlottesville backcourt finally got one over on their taller adversaries.
Charlottesville, behind 43 points from its quartet of junior and senior guards, secured the lead late, and held on for a thrilling 59-55 triumph.
Zymir Faulkner led all scorers with 23 points, while Christian Stewart finished in double figures as well, with 10. Starting point guard Nic Motley chipped in eight points and and a bevy of big plays on the defensive end.
The victory marked CHS’ first victory over Albemarle since December 11, 2015. The Knights also scored 59 points in that game.
Friday’s victory was an emotional one for those close to the Black Knight program. Charlottesville head coach Mitch Minor returned to the bench after missing Tuesday night’s game against Orange following the death of his mother on Sunday night.
“We were doing this for coach Minor. All for coach Minor,” said Charlottesville forward Isiah Washington following the win.
Washington and company stared down a four-point deficit with less than four minutes remaining, following back-to-back points off of turnovers for the Patriots. Trailing 52-48 and on the wrong end of a 10-4 run, the Knights turned the tables on Albemarle, and began to work the ball inside.
Six straight points inside the lane gave Charlottesville a lead it would not relinquish, and the Knights closed out the game on a 10-5 run. CHS did not allow a Patriot field goal in the final four minutes of contest.
“I thought we shot the ball too quickly – too many threes. When we started attacking the basket, I think that made the difference in the game,” Minor said. “I thought the second half in particular, we did a much better job defensively. They didn’t shots that they were getting in the first half.”
Charlottesville had a bevy of different heroes in the closing minutes, as four different Knights scored in the final 3:30.
Faulkner stopped the bleeding for his team with a transition layup to the cut the 52-48 AHS lead in half. Then, Stewart found his way inside the low-block to tie the game with 3:11 left to play. A Motley steal and transition bucket less than 30 seconds later lifted CHS to a 54-52 lead, and marked the final field goal of the contest for either team.
Motley yielded the ball to Faulkner and Stewart on offense late in the game, but the versatile guard made his mark on the other end of the court. In addition to the steal that led to the go-ahead bucket, the junior got a key tip, that led to an AHS turnover with less than 10 seconds to play, when the Pats were down by just three.
“Nic is improving every year,” Minor said. “He’s long, plus-six-feet — of course he’s our leader, and he’s our best defender on the ball. Isaiah does a great job too, but I thought [Motley] did a pretty good job of containing that dribble-drive a lot throughout the game. He got some good steals and some layups off of that, so I was really proud of our defensive effort.”
While Motely got to guard players that were close to his size, Washington drew the toughest defensive assignment of the night.
The 5-foot-10 Washington acted as a post player, and was tasked with containing Albemarle’s Josh Morse, who stands 6-foot-5. Morse tallied a team-best 21 points, but only five of those came in the second half. What Washington lacked in size, he made up for with his 200-plus-pound frame, as the two-sport star did everything he could to keep the much-taller Morse in check when called upon.
“He’s very long,” Washington said of Morse. “When he’s going around the curls, my mindset is to go around with him. And the rebound… He can jump too, I just got to box out. Coach Minor always tells us to just push the ball, out-run them, transition, box-out, and go. That’s what we do.”
Washington chipped in eight points to go along with his stellar effort on defense.
The Patriots (3-3) suffered their third close loss of the season. Albemarle’s other two defeats prior to Friday night were a two-point setback against Western on December 13, and an overtime loss against Patrick Henry the week prior. Trailing 7-2 early, Albemarle reeled off a methodical 12-2 to grab a five-point lead. The Patriots grabbed their largest lead of the game after scoring the first six points of the second quarter, all coming inside the paint.
Albemarle again took control of the seesaw battle in the final frame. Seniors Dasaun Taylor and Justin Murkey reeled off back-to-back transition buckets, to give AHS a four-point lead.
After CHS regained the advantage with a 6-0 run of its own, Morse trimmed the deficit to just one after going 1-2 from the line. Chris Woods scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of free throws to cut the CHS lead to just three with 16.1 seconds remaining. The Patriots will look to climb back above .500 in the annual Daily Progress/NBC 29 Holiday Tournament beginning next Friday.
The Black Knights on the other hand, enter the holiday break with a perfect 5-0 record, including a 2-0 mark in the Jefferson District. Charlottesville is in great position heading into the New Year, but Minor knows that there is plenty of basketball left to be played.
“It’s a good feeling to win going into the break,” Minor said. “We know we have a long season and we have to take each game one at a time. I think our district is pretty tough-we have a lot of tough games ahead of us, but we’re happy with the win tonight. The guys can relax going into the weekend, and we’re going to prepare for Kettle Run next Friday night in the tournament.”
