Charlottesville’s Maurice Jackson spent almost the entire third quarter stuck on the bench with four fouls as Western Albemarle continued to control things Friday night, carrying an 11-point lead into the final frame.
“It was rough, I was getting cold on the side,” Jackson said. “I just kept thinking about what I was going to do when I got back in.”
Jackson followed his long exile to the bench with one of the wildest fourth quarter performances around as Charlottesville, behind a fantastic team defensive effort, stormed back.
The Black Knights escaped with a 51-50 victory over Western Albemarle to stay unbeaten in the Jefferson District.
Jackson finished with 18 points, but it was what he pulled off in the closing minutes that made the biggest impression. Jackson tipped back a Devin Turner miss with about a minute to play that knotted the game at 50-50, and just a few seconds later came up with a steal and drew a foul. He buried the front end of his two shots to give CHS the 51-50 lead. But he wasn’t done.
Charlottesville hauled in the offensive rebound on his free throw miss and kicked it out to Jackson who immediately let loose a 3-pointer with just over 12 seconds to play, when perhaps he could’ve pulled it out.
“Everybody looked at each other like ‘if Mo loses this game for us’,” said teammate Daquan Jones. “But we stayed in there and played as a team. Sometimes he comes up big for us and basically he won the game for us.”
Jackson made sure that mistake didn’t cost the team and came back on the final play of the game to force not one but two tough Western passes as the 12.7 seconds ticked off the clock. Along with junior Richard Washington, Jackson applied pressure to Western’s Christian Pierce in the backcourt to force a pass and then the senior sprinted across the court to halt Western’s Travis Hester’s progress to the basket. Hester found Pierce back behind the 3-point line, but an off balance shot as time expired fell short.
From there, the celebration ensued.
“What can I say, you live or die with him,” said CHS coach Mitch Minor. “I’ve come to understand that, that’s the way it’s going to be. I don’t knock Maurice because he gives me everything he has every single night, not just on the offensive side but the defensive side to.”
Down by five after a burst early in the fourth keyed by a Rickquan Jones bucket, Charlottesville started attacking the basket and drew fouls five possessions, going 8-for-10 at the line to cut the lead to one. From there, a pair of steals, one by Devin Turner and then another by Adrian Thurston led to quick buckets and a three-point CHS lead.
Western then got to the free throw line on three straight possessions, hitting 5-for-6 from the line to take a two-point lead before Jackson’s tip-in.
Pierce did everything he could to keep the Warriors alive with Dante Crawford on the bench with five fouls and another post player, Jake Nidiffer sidelined with an injury. The senior guard finished with 19 points and six rebounds, including some critical free throws down the stretch and a bucket that gave Western a 45-43 after Charlottesville tied the game.
“I thought we played very well for three quarters but I’m not sure what we could’ve done differently in the fourth quarter,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “But Dante didn’t really get to play tonight and we’re not the same team if he doesn’t get to play.”
Crawford somehow hauled in 13 rebounds in the game despite being tethered to the bench nearly the whole four quarters with foul trouble. Hester had 17 points and seven boards.
Turner finished with 10 points for the Black Knights while freshman Jahvon Shelton had nine points including two free throws in the fourth quarter.
Charlottesville is unbeaten in the Jefferson right now, but with weather rescheduling, the Black Knights have yet to take on Fluvanna County. They’ll get that chance next week.
Western will head over the mountain today to face Spotswood.
