With Bull Run front runner George Mason coming into town, Madison County was hoping to hand the Mustangs their first district loss and avoid its own. The Mountaineers managed to survive a 3-point barrage early and keep things close for the first half, but turnovers on their end and Mason’s hot shooting night proved to be too much in the end as the visitors picked up a 59-47 road win.
“Coming into this atmosphere against this team with the tradition that’ve had recently — it’s a great win,” said Mustangs coach Chris Capannola. “I couldn’t be happier.”
That Madison was only down by four at the half seemed fortunate as just about every shot Mason unloaded happened to go in. Add to it that they were contested shots and from beyond the arc and the Mountaineers felt as through they had weathered the early storm. Leading scorer Travis Warren was able to spark Madison’s transition game in the second quarter and the defense played tighter around the edges to keep Mason from piling it on.
“We found their shooters and started communicating on defense and so I thought we made it tough on them in that second, that we played pretty well there,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “I thought we took their best shot in that first quarter and really battled back. I was proud of the way the players handled that.”
However in a game were there were no runs of more than six points at a time, the Mountaineers found themselves trailing by nine with two minutes left in the third. From there, whenever Warren, Nick Paxon, Patrick Roebuck or Matt Temple came up with some offense, the Mustangs answered back with either 3-pointers from Philippe Griffiths or shots underneath from Nate Ogle and Jeremy Stewart.
“Don’t give the other team turnovers and run-outs, that’s the whole deal in high school basketball,” Capannola said. “I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”
Inside of the two minute mark of the final frame, Madison was forced to send Mason to the free throw line, and while a pair of early misses followed by a quick layup from Warren made it a seven point game with 90 seconds left, that was as close as the home crowd saw their team get as the Mustangs buckled down and finished when fouled from then on.
“When they got up by nine the way they were passing that ball, all they had to do was hit free throws,” Breeden said. “They’re a good team and did a great job of finishing the game off.”
For Mason (9-3, 3-0), Griffiths nailed six 3-pointers en route to an 19-point game. Ogle piled up 13 points while Stewart was just ahead with 14.
Warren had a team high 17 points. Paxon had 11 points and Roebuck gave the Mountaineers a third player in double figures with 11. Madison’s starting five scored all but four its team’s points.
The Mountaineers (4-10, 2-1) host Rappahannock on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
