With an entirely new starting lineup and a team that is still forging its new identity, Albemarle’s boys basketball team has had some slow starts this year. That wasn’t a problem Saturday afternoon in a matinee engagement with fellow Jefferson District unbeaten Orange County.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get my team fired up, there have been some games this year where it takes us a little while to get started,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “But their record helped us get fired up.”
The Patriots came roaring out of the gates Saturday afternoon and rolled 78-46 over the Hornets, who came into the game boasting an 11-1 record and an unbeaten early run in the Jefferson District. That setup a critical twice-postponed clash between two of the three unbeaten Jefferson District programs (Western being the third) on a Saturday afternoon.
“I’m proud of our guys the way we’ve started the season and we’ve got freshmen who are coming out of the woodwork and playing well,” said Orange coach Adam Utz. “(Today) we just didn’t execute. I thought tonight was one of the first times we’ve really faced adversity so we’ll see how we can bounce back and go from here.”
La’Mari Parler was a big source of the Hornets’ adversity, exploding offensively with 25 points. Parler attacked the rim at will. He second seven of those 25 in the first quarter as Albemarle jumped out to a 15-5 lead and led 20-12 at the end of the opening frame.
“We changed the way we do a lot of things to take advantage of these players’ skill set and his skill set is taking it hard to the hole,” Maynard said. “We made some changes to our offense and (Parler’s ability to attack) leads to some open shots for other people.”
Parler also pulled down six boards on the night, and helped make sure the Hornets couldn’t rally in the second half, notching nine points in the third quarter. Albemarle scored 28 points in the third while holding Orange to just 11. The Hornets couldn’t muster a counterpunch coming out of the locker room and that effectively did them in. TaeVeon Wilson provided the hammer with all eight of his points coming in the third quarter.
“We’ve got some people who can knock it down and then TaeVeon can be really tough when he’s not in foul trouble finishing inside,” Maynard said. “So we just have pretty good balance and our bench does a nice job too.”
Ben and Carter Wesson each finished with 10 points while Jason Breen had nine. Wilson had eight boards to go with his eight points. Point guard Chris Humes dished out eight assists and committed just a single turnover against the pressure-oriented Hornets. Humes also had six points.
J.J. Mcdonald led the Hornets with 21 points and Sheldon Robinson had 12 points, bit the Hornets just couldn’t string together stops and buckets throughout.
Next up, the Patriots will host Fluvanna County Monday at 7:30 p.m. while Orange travels to take on Monticello.
