Ben Turner was far from the lone culprit. But he was part of what finished as a 12-for-24 night as a team at the free throw line for Western Albemarle’s boys basketball team.
Turner missed a pair of free throws with under a minute to play and on the ensuing possession Spotswood quickly buried a 3-pointer to cut the Western lead to a single basket.
That’s a big reason you could see the relief on his face — a noticeable exhale — after the senior shook off his earlier struggles and hit the first of two free throws with less than five seconds to play that secured a 60-55 victory over Spotswood.
“I told myself that I can make it and there’s nothing else I can do, we have to win this game,” Turner said. “So I didn’t really have an option.”
Turner hit the second free throw too and effectively finished off Spotswood. Stepping to the line, he was just 3 for 9 for the game at the charity stripe. The squad’s overall struggles at the line surprised their head coach Darren Maynard.
“I thought that would be a really big strength of ours this year and I still think it will be, we’re working on getting it back,” Maynard said. “It was nice to see (Turner) hit a couple of clutch ones and Will Donnelly hit a couple of clutch ones too.”
Turner’s free throws and the rally that Steve Johnson kickstarted allowed Western to overcome nearly three and a half quarters of inconsistent play. With the Warriors trailing by seven late in the third, Johnson connected on a tough 3-point play with a bucket and a free throw and then buried a three from down near the corner with 6:20 to play in the fourth quarter pulled Western within one. That 6-0 spurt started what turned into a 13-0 run that put Western up by six.
“The last two games he’s brought some tremendous energy,” Maynard said. “His defense is his specialty but he’s really made a couple of big offensive plays in each game so that’s really a bonus. He really provides a lot of energy.”
Western struggled with Spotswood’s pressure throughout but particularly in the first half, including a stretch where the Warriors turned the ball over five straight times after dribbling into traps near midcourt. Sophomore Chase Stokes managed to get going offensively with 19 points, but the bulk of that came in the second half when the Warriors started to figure out how to handle the Trailblazers’ defense. Sam Chisholm also managed to get into double figures with a 10-point effort.
Spotswood built its third quarter lead on the strength of Hyrum Wieler’s performance. Whieler finished with 20 points with 10 of the points coming in the third.
Western will head across Albemarle county to battle rival Albemarle High Saturday night.
