Fluvanna County’s Bobby Gardner always bring energy to the equation for the Flucos.
“Bobby has more energy than any human being alive, I want to be able to crawl in his head for about 15 minutes one day just to see what it’s like,” said Fluvanna coach Heath Bralley. “It brings everybody else up and makes everybody else better.”
Fluvanna desperately needed the junior guard’s approach and attitude Tuesday night when the Flucos fell into a 25-point hole after a miserable start against Charlottesville.
“It was probably the worst or second worst start we’ve had this season,” said Fluvanna coach Heath Bralley. “Effort was lacking, it looked like we thought we were going to come in here and coast and no team in the Jefferson District is going to let you just coast to a win.”
Gardner’s activity on the defensive end and his assertiveness in the lane helped Fluvanna flip the switch and turn what early on looked like a rout by the Black Knights into a 73-64 Fluvanna victory that the Flucos desperately needed.
“We haven’t beat them in 10 years, that’s a special win for all of us in the locker room,” Gardner said.
It was a major reversal of fortune against the Black Knights for Fluvanna both presently and historically. The Flucos’ last win over Charlottesville appears to have come on January 8, 2013 and that was in Palmyra, the last win at CHS’s home gym came a year earlier in YaYa Anderson’s senior season.
More recently, Fluvanna fell 78-61 to Charlottesville back in mid-December. The win could also provide a huge lift to their Region 3C playoff chances as they battle it out with the Black Knights and Monticello for postseason spots.
Gardner scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, getting into gear in a big way after the break. Down 15 points at the break, the Flucos stormed out in the third quarter, riding some momentum off of Kobe Edmonds’ three-quarters court shot to beat the first half buzzer and cut into the Black Knights lead. With Lance Bruce also starting to really cook in the second half, the Flucos’ potential three-headed monster at guard started to really rise up.
“Our big three, when we get going we’re unstoppable,” Gardner said. “We score, we play defense, get steals and get going. When we get in the lane, we’re going to score the bucket.”
Gardner’s aggressiveness off the dribble opened things up for Bruce who led the Flucos with 23 points, with 13 of those points coming after the break as Fluvanna started surging.
Edmonds scored 18 and eventually shook loose after the break too.
The Flucos were playing on short rest after facing Albemarle Monday night and that may have accounted for some of the slow start, but Charlottesville was shooting the lights out early on too, knocking down six 3-pointers in the first quarter as a team with six of those coming from Aiden Yates. Yates finished with 18 points on six 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Polo Hill got going in the second quarter 11 of his 22 points in that frame.
But the Black Knights couldn’t sustain that early intensity, fraying in the second quarter where they surrendered 26 points and then bottoming out in the third quarter when they managed just four points.
