For the first time in six years, Fluvanna County boys basketball can notch a win next to Western Albemarle on the schedule.
The Flucos went into Crozet less than 24 hours after a gritty 63-50 road win over Monticello, and took down the Warriors for the first time since January 30th, 2015. It is also the first win in Crozet for Fluvanna since 2012 when Kobe Edmonds, the Flucos leading scorer, was in the second grade.
“They’re such a great program, great coached basketball team, it’s really something special to beat them,” Fluvanna head coach Heath Bralley said. “I know it’s their first game so we kind of caught them at a good time.”
Fluvanna rode the intensity of Xavier Copeland and the hot shooting of Maurice D’Alessandro to an early lead. Add that to a buzzer-beating three by Lance Bruce and the Flucos led 18-10 after one. The Flucos went 6-for-10 from the field in the first quarter, nailing three threes.
Fluvanna extended the lead to 26-16 after Maurice D’Alessandro and Edmonds nailed back to back threes of their own, but the Warriors jumped right back in it. Some paint buckets by Joshua Sime and Lucas Farmer quickly closed the gap, and junior guard Michael Holzwarth buried a three that capped a 9-0 run that cut the Fluco lead to 26-25. It was deadlocked at 33 at the break. Edmonds notched six assists in the first half alone.
Sime brought the intensity in the third and helped Western stay close, but Kobe Edmonds nailed a three plus the foul — Sime’s third — to put Fluvanna ahead 43-39. Ross Hardy for Western hit two big midrange jumpers to tie it back up at 45, but the Flucos ripped off a 9-0 run of their own to take a 54-45 lead going into the 4th.
The Warriors fought back again to make it a one point game with five minutes left, and the rest of the game was back and forth.
“When they cut it down to one a couple times with a decent amount of time left, we just had to calm down, and handle their pressure,” Bralley said of the fourth.
John Rittenhouse took a huge charge late to swing the momentum back to Fluvanna, but Sime scored to cut the lead to 63-61 with 42 seconds left. Fluvanna then missed on the other end and Andrew Shifflett tried to get it to Isaac Sumpter, but Daniel Campbell disrupted the pass and Rittenhouse jumped on the ball and Fluvanna called a timeout, gaining possession up two with just 0.9 second left. Xavier Copeland knocked down two free throws to seal it for the now 5-1 Flucos.
Edmonds scored a game high 20 and had 8 assists. D’Alessandro scored 15 and Copeland and Rittenhouse each chipped in 9. Fluvanna went 17-21 from the line as a team and was a huge reason for the win.
For Western, Andrew Shifflett scored 17. Josh Sime had 12 and Isaac Sumpter dished out 8 assists despite a rough shooting night. Western only went 5-for-12 from the line in their first game in over 300 days.
The Warriors will head to Albemarle to kick off a four-game weke Tuesday night while the Flucos will get a week off before a rematch with the Warriors Friday.
