In the next three years, William Monroe coach Mike Maynard figures that Austin Batten will be a go-to player, a leader at the guard position. But for now, he’s a freshman learning the ropes. On Tuesday night, Batten showed promise. You don’t make make headlines with eight points, but if you’re a freshman like Batten, and all eight come in a pivotal point on the road against an out of district rival that’s had your number, that changes the story.
“I was pretty nervous,” Batten said of his second half spurt. “But this was out biggest game and I couldn’t wait for it.”
Coming off a dramatic win on Monday, the Greene Dragons didn’t play their best basketball against host and defending Group A Division 1 champion Madison County. However, the Mountaineers struggled as well, and behind an 15-2 run fueled by defense and offense from senior Desmon Shaver, junior Jordan Gentry and some clutch shots from Batten, Monroe topped the Mountaineers, 58-51 to hand the home team its first lost on its own court since the ’07-’08 season in a battle.
“We came out sluggish and I don’t think Madison was on there best game either,” Maynard said. “I think we might have set basketball back a few years there, but this team finished with energy and we’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
For the first three quarters, both teams struggled on offense as Madison struggled with layups and rebounding while Monroe was also cold from the field and worked to overcome turnovers as they tried to push the ball up the court.
The Dragons held a pair of six-point leads, once early in the second quarter, and again later in the third, but on both occasions the Mountaineers fought back behind the play of Travis Warren and bench players Patrick Roebuck and another freshman showing promise, Bobby Ford.
Madison asserted a six-point lead of its own to begin the fourth guarter but it was then that Monroe’s press came through, forcing turnovers that led to 3-pointers from Shaver and Batten to bring the Dragons back to within a point of the lead with less than a middle of a quarter to play.
“We had a lot of trouble getting the ball in and that’s been a troubled spot for us this year – we had people open,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “That came back to haunt us.”
Down the stretch, Monroe’s press struck again, and field goals on assists from Shaver to Batten and then Shaver himself put the Dragons up six with a minute to play. Facing a free throw contest, Monroe passed the test just like it did against Western Albemarle one week ago, and as a result Maynard’s squad earned its first win against Madison since 2007.
“He did a much better job of running the offense in the second half, but Desmon did a great job of trusting that freshman, especially when he was standing alone,” Maynard said of his star player and work with Batten. “(Desmon) was hyped for this game. Madison’s beat him four times in a row before this.”
That freshman has already learned a lot from this team’s leading scorer.
“He’s helped me with everything so far, my shot, everything,” Batten said. “He’s just a great player.”
For Monroe, Shaver had a team high with 18 points and led all rebounders with 10 boards. Gentry hit a trio of 3-pointers and had 11 points. Markel Faulkner came through with nine points and seven rebounds. Batten finished with eight points.
Offensively, Madison was able to break Monroe’s press for most of the game, but couldn’t hit from beyond the arc early, but got rolling when it pushed for easy baskets underneath. Unfortunately for Breeden, that wasn’t there late in the fourth.
“We talked about attacking the rim to start the game but we settled for threes,” Breeden said. “It’s a little disappointing that we didn’t execute but Travis played a great game and left it all out there tonight. I did think we got out worked. We’re disappointed in the overall effort.”
Warren tied Shaver for a game high 18 points and also had six rebounds and two steals. Ford and Nick Paxon each had six points. Roebuck finished with seven.
The Dragons (5-2) host undefeated Charlottesville on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Mountaineers (2-3) travel to Paige County on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
