It was nothing but runs to start, but despite facing significant foul trouble in the first half, when Culpeper seized the lead and strongly closed out the first half, it found a way to hold off William Monroe the rest of the way. The Dragons saw Markel Williams have a huge game, but at the other end, there was no holding back Blue Devils forward Nikolas Stewart. In a game that saw a slew of free throws and an awful lot of offense, Culpeper was able to punch a third straight ticket to the final round of the NBC29/Daily Progress Holiday Classic with a 90-71 win.
“We saw (Markel Williams) play last night and we knew the type of defense we want to play, if he caught the ball in the middle it was going to be tough guarding him,” said Blue Devils coach James Thompson. “We just had to shut down everything outside – so he was going to have a career night but thought we had the fire power.”
In the first two minutes, Monroe seized control in a back-and-fourth first half by going on a 10-2 run led by Williams and Gary Morris. But it took little time for Culpeper’s aggressive attack to answer as it put together a 15-3 run of its own. The Blue Devils consistently finished at the basket when they needed to, but also had little trouble kicking the ball out on contested attempts to knock down 3-pointers.
“When you get at the cusp of a double-digit lead you need to find a way to keep it there,” Thompson said.
While The Dragons tied the game up at 19, the Blue Devils finished the first quarter strong to take a 9-point lead. Going forward, Monroe was able to keep pace to in the second to keep the deficit at the same headed into the break but unable to make up any ground.
Behind Williams in the third the Dragons got to within five points of the lead. However, slowly and surely the Culpeper increased its lead in game that was up tempo, but slowed the rest of the way with one foul after another. Williams picked up his fourth foul two minutes into the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils were able to go up by nine and soon by 10. Needing a come back in the last four minutes, back-to-back technical fouls called on Monroe, first on the court then on bench all but ended the competition with just over two minutes to go.
“We didn’t play defense tonight and you go can’t give up 90 points in a high school game,” said Dragons coach Mike Maynard. “We had turnover issues and they feed of their defense for easy baskets. We gave them too many. Then also we have to play with more composure and that starts with the coaching staff. I think we need to be calm so that the kids stay calm.”
Stewart led all scorers with 38 points and went 10 for 10 from the line in the fourth. Henry Butler had 13 in the first for Culpeper and finished with 18. Adrian Struther added 14 and Jeremy Robson hit four 3-pointers to score 12.
For Monroe, Williams had 27 points to go with nine rebounds. Morris added 25 points. JoJo Krynitsky had six points along with nine rebounds and three blocks. Keegan Woolford also had six points.
Culpeper (9-1) faces Sherando in the championship game at Albemarle at 8:15.
The Dragons (8-2) face Albemarle in a consolation game at 4:15.
Wild second quarter fuels Sherando over Albemarle
You’re simply helpless when a team doesn’t miss, and as such the second quarter was the undoing for Albemarle as Sherando poured in 25 points in that frame to pick up a 65-44 win over the Patriots and move on to a showing in the finals.
“We were able to hit some shots and that was good to see because that’s a tall team and they had some guys that could hurt us so it was one of those fortunate things,” said Warriors coach Garland Williams.
Both scoreless in the first quarter, Sherando’s Tanner Ruths and Aaron Miller exploded with their team trailing by two entering the second. There Ruth knocked down a trio of three’s and scored 11 of his 13 on the night while Miller had nine of his 15 also in the second to help outscored Albemarle 25-13 and build a 10-point lead going into the break.
“Miller’s our top scorer but we really feel as though we’ve got two or three guys that can lead us in scoring and we had that tonight,” Williams said. “It was just a good sound game for us and we’re pleased and hope to keep it going.”
After halftime, the game was mostly even with Daniel Mallory leading the way for Albemarle, but the Patriots were unable to mount any sizeable run to dig into the Warriors lead. Sherando went up by 14 headed into the fourth and with Isaiah Williams netting eight of his 10 points including all four of his free throw attempts in the fourth, Albemarle wasn’t able to catch up.
“They shot lights out and I don’t know what the shooting percentage was but it seemed like they didn’t miss from midway point of the second quarter,” said Patriots coach Greg Maynard. “I thought we weren’t playing hard enough on rebounds and loose balls that led to our problems, but once they started shooting they took the momentum to extend out and we couldn’t keep their guards in front of us.”
Mallory finished with a game high 22 points, but he was the lone Patriot in double figures. Luke Ford had seven points while Harmon Hawkins added six and Ryan Londree chipped in five.
Albemarle
