Jaylen Hudson scored 17 points and Caleb Gage added 14 as Charlottesville used a 20-0 run to close out the first half en route to a 66-48 victory over visiting Jefferson Forest in the first round of the Conference 23 tournament.
The Black Knights trailed 17-14 early in the second quarter when Hudson tied it with one of his three first-half three-pointers. He followed that with a nifty scoop shot around a Cavalier defender to give Charlottesville the lead for good with 5:25 to play in the half, then Gage converted a driving layup of his own before another Hudson basket forced a Jefferson Forest timeout. But the stoppage did little to calm the Black Knight surge as Hudson rattled off five more points in the next two trips down the floor to make it 28-17 with 3:44 to go.
“I thought we did a great job of moving and sharing the basketball,” CHS head coach Mitch Minor said. “That got us some open looks. Jaylen shot the ball well, then that opened up the lane for Caleb to get to the hole and score the points that he did.”
Khalil Vest followed with back-to-back layups before Gage scored again to give Charlottesville a 34-17 lead going into the break.
Much of Charlottesville’s momentum was generated by its signature full-court pressure, which frustrated the Cavaliers into 12 first-half turnovers. Gage finished the game with six steals for the Black Knights.
“We just did what we do best — we pressured them,” Minor said. “We got some easy steals, which got us into a rhythm defensively. We thought we had an advantage when it came to ballhandling, so we just kept pressuring them and we got the turnovers.”
Charlottesville’s lead got as high as 17 late in the third quarter courtesy of another Hudson triple with 2:28 to go in the quarter and 18 in the final two minutes of the game, when Minor emptied his bench to give his lesser-used players some postseason experience.
John Saunier scored 19 points to lead Jefferson Forest, followed by Trey Dupree with 15, including three three-pointers. Those were the only treys the Cavaliers hit on 14 attempts.
Charlottesville’s next-highest scorer was Tyreek Ragland with eight while Vest had seven. The Black Knights shot 5-for-18 from three and turned in a 15-for-18 performance from the foul line.
CHS will travel to GW-Danville, the top seed in Conference 23, tomorrow night with a berth in regional play on the line.
