When YaYa Anderson’s first 3-pointer fell, Fluvanna County warmed up. When he hit two more just moments apart, it looked like the Flucos were ready to take the game over.
For the first 27 minutes, Monticello had the edge, and in the third quarter, the Mustangs were up comfortably. Anderson’s 3-point barrage forced Monticello coach Robert Shelton to call a timeout. Fluvanna trailed by just five points going into the pause but it scored just three more points for the rest of the night as the Mustangs continued to rebound, force turnovers, get up and down the court and finish underneath.
In the process, Monticello handed the visiting Flucos their first regular season Jefferson District defeat this season, 74-54.
“I think the guys have transformed into a team that uses everybody and that allows us to play at our pace and dictate the game a little bit,” Shelton said. “Our kids played hard. I’ll take my hat of to them because they did exactly what we asked them to — to contain. Again, it’s hard to contain a Division 1 basketball player (like Anderson).”
From start to finish, Jhalil Mosley and Sam Patterson had their way underneath the basket. Whether it was on the run, Mosley penetrating or Patterson establishing a post presence, the Mustangs flourished behind their play, building an 18-14 lead after the first quarter, and extending the difference to seven points at halftime with Anderson keeping the Flucos at a reasonable margin.
“We’ve been digging a bit of a hole for ourselves in the first quarter for the last four or five games, and dug one tonight and just couldn’t respond in a way to get out of it,” said Fluvanna coach Munro Rateau. “But you’ve got to credit Monticello, because they beat us up and down the court all night. We can’t let that happen.”
Up by six midway through the third, Monticello and its fans came to life on a quick run fueled by a turnover that resulted first in a Denzel Terry 3-pointer and following a take away, a Mosley dunk to give the Mustangs an 11-point edge. Monticello was up by 12 points early in the fourth quarter when Anderson, who had been getting the job done slashing inside, decided to try and give his team a different kind of spark. The trio of shots from beyond the arc sent Fluvanna on a 9-2 run to allow them within five points of the lead.
“We knew at halftime that even though we had the lead, they were going make runs and come at us — it’s Fluvanna, that’s what they do and they’ve got YaYa,” Patterson said. “We were able to minimize the runs and pulled away. We ran the court really well I thought and did that all the way until the end of the game.”
Out of the Monticello timeout, the Flucos forced a turnover, but could not trim more off the deficit. What happened instead was the Mustangs bounced back, peeling off a 16-3 run to finish the night with Patterson and Mosley leading the way.
“We knew they like to run too, so if we could just get a few stops on defense, we were going to be able to push the ball up the court and get a lot of easy layups,” Mosley said. “People said (beating Charlottesville) last Friday was a fluke, so we had to come out here and compete and prove people wrong by knocking off the number two team in the state. It’s a good day.”
Mosley led the Mustangs with 24 points and five steals. Just a few days removed from committing to VMI for football, Patterson had 19 points and nine rebounds. James Banks had a strong third quarter and scored 10 points while Terry added nine points and three steals.
Anderson was the top scorer on the night, pouring in 25 points and hauling in seven rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. Taylor Lintecum was the only other Fluco in double figures. He had 10 points and five rebounds. Vinny Agee contributed eight points.
Fluvanna (15-2, 4-1) heads to Western Albemarle on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The last time the Flucos lost a regular season JD contest was also at Monticello on the road, and they did not lose again in regulation until the Group AA Division 3 semifinals in Richmond.
“That (streak) is what we’re going to talk about on Monday,” Rateau said. “We’ve got to bounce back and be ready for Western on Tuesday.”
Monticello (11-7, 5-2) host Louisa County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
