Recently, Western Albemarle and Albemarle’s boys basketball rivalry has been evenly divided to the same degree that UNC and Duke’s annual clashes were for the last 100 meetings going into 2020 where the two archrivals had split 50-50 and scored 7,746 points.
Going into Wednesday night’s long awaited clash that’s been delayed and postponed several times, the two programs have split the last 24 matchups 12-12 and Albemarle only held a slight scoring edge across that span, 1,314-1,251.
That’s why it was no surprise that despite a dominant first half by the Warriors, Wednesday’s clash came down to the wire, with Western prevailing 53-46 on the strength of Josh Sime’s 18-point, 10-rebound double double and the gutty play of point guard Andrew Barrese.
“I thought he was awesome, I told him that’s one of the best point guard performances I’ve seen on this court in a long time,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “He controlled the pace of the game, he controlled the tempo.”
Barrese’s efforts didn’t show up in the statbook nearly as much as Sime’s numbers did. But he had to carry the load with Isaac Sumpter still out with an injury and Barrese finished with five assists and just two turnovers while facing immense pressure from Albemarle’s fleet of speedy guards. He played particularly well in the second half and down the stretch as the Patriots roared back into the game.
“He played amazing — that’s the best he’s ever played, that’s the best we’ve seen a point guard play for Western in years,” Sime said. “I can’t remember a time where he did something wrong, that’s how good he was. He really was a rock for us.”
Barrese’s work helped power a dominant first half too as Western’s post players went to work and built a 31-15 lead before the break, with Sime scoring nine of his 18 before the break and Lucas Farmer scoring eight as part of his 11-point, five-rebound outing. Sime went 8-for-8 from the field and did it with an array of post moves and a take off the dribble with a crossover from the top of the key.
“They totally outplayed us in the first half, their bigs dominated us and we let them catch it too easily and they were putting it in,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “They’ve got a college front line in there with size, 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8. We haven’t faced a team that has two of those all year long and most teams don’t have one.”
It didn’t help Albemarle’s cause in the first that they struggled to push the pace and attack in transition or create turnovers on the press. The Patriots slowly dug out of that hole though when they did both of those things, thanks in large part to La’mari Parler, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, including a couple of tough finishes in the lane and a 3-pointer from the wing. Jason Breen also played a big role in the comeback attempt with two huge 3-pointers in the third quarter.
“We did a better job of handling it in the second half and a much better job with our press, we weren’t even effecting them with our press in the first half either,” Greg Maynard said. “It was just a little too much to overcome.”
When it counted though, Western’s Wes Gobble came up with a crucial strip block with under two minutes to play and Albemarle’s comeback bid faltered after that with Western going 6-for-9 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Gobble also chipped in eight points and four assists for Western. Western’s ball movement all night was solid as Luca Tesoriere also had four assists and Alex Keeton had three on the night. That gave Western assists on 18 of their 19 field goals against the Patriots.
“I’m really impressed with this group, to come over here and win on this court against a really, really good team without one of our best and most experienced players, I’m impressed with what they’ve done tonight,” Darren Maynard said.
The Patriots will try and bounce back on the road Friday night at Orange County as they play their fourth game of the week while Western continues its own busy week with a home game against Goochland the same night.
