Based on the results in the previous meeting, Monticello was itching to push the tempo up and fly around the court. Based on those same results, William Monroe wasn’t. It was a slow methodical game with the Mustangs struggling from the field and the Greene Dragons suffering with turnovers. It might have been a tough game to watch, but after surviving a game where Monroe had the chance to win or force overtime, Monticello couldn’t be happier with its 43-41 win at home on Friday night.
“This was huge, just a huge win for us,” said Monticello coach Kareem Martin. “We are so young, we’re still growing up,” Martin said. “We can be as good as we want to be, but we can also be pretty bad. That’s a good team we just played and (Monroe coach Mike Maynard) does a fantastic job with them. What we had to do was make sure that we stayed patient. They knew that if they allowed us to run, they wouldn’t be able to keep up. They gave us a lot in that zone and in the fourth quarter we were finally able to see it, cut the seams, get to the baseline and hit our shots.”
The Dragons were able to dictate the pace of the game all the way until the middle of the fourth quarter. Monroe held a two possession lead for nearly the entire first half and went into the break up by three points behind their ability to draw fouls and get to the free throw line.
To open up the third quarter, the Dragons started out on a 7-0 run on baskets from Jordan Gentry, Markel Faulkner and a 3-pointer from Desmon Shaver that made it a 10-point game.
Defensively, Monroe stayed on top of Monticello, particularly because of Faulkner down low who blocked one shot after another.
“We executed what we talked about all week in practice – keeping their guys from penetrating,” Maynard said. “I was proud of the effort from this team. I thought they did a really great job defensively.”
But the Dragons were unable to further add to their cushion because of turnovers and scored just one point in the last five and a half minutes before the fourth quarter.
With the deficit down to four points in the first minute of the fourth quarter, Monticello got a huge swing of momentum from Sam Shannon who was able to provide a spark off the bench. Shannon converted a 3-point play after a hard foul and after the opening inbounds pass was stolen by Jhalil Mosley and quickly laid back into the basket, suddenly the Mustangs went from down by four to up by one.
“We had a lot of different players come off the bench and contribute,” Mosley said. “Sam made a big play when we needed, but everyone stepped up when we them to at the end.”
Both teams traded baskets back and forth but steals and layups to follow from Jhalil Mosley and Denzel Terry put the Mustangs up by five points to set up the final two minutes of play.
“We’re always working on steals in practice,” Mosley said. “We played around with different styles of defense to try out and finally found one that worked and came up with those steals.”
Monroe sent Monticello to the free throw line to stop the clock, and with the Mustangs struggling with the late foul shots, a Shaver 3-pointer made it a 2-point game with just a little over 30 seconds to go.
Once again the Mustangs weren’t able to put the game away at the line, however, they were able to keep Monroe from getting a clean last shot. With two seconds left, Shaver threw up a shot as he drew a foul.
“That’s the best free throw shooter I’ve ever coached,” Maynard said of Shaver. “There’s nobody else I’d want on the line in a situation like that.”
Unfortunately for Monroe, Shaver’s first free throw attempt bounced around the rim and kicked out. Forced to get a rebound on an intentional miss, the Dragons managed to get one last crack as they forced the ball out of bounds on a Monticello defender with two tenths of a second to go. With only a tip-in legal, Monroe tried to pull off a play on the inbounds pass but could not convert.
Mosley had 13 points on the night while Terry and Tyler Moneymaker had seven a piece. Mosley and Terry each had three steals. Moneymaker finished with eight rebounds, and had five in the first quarter. Eight different players hit field goals for the Mustangs.
For Monroe, Shaver led all scorers with 19 points on a trio of 3-pointers and eight converted free throw shots in his 10 attempts. Faulkner had a productive game with 12 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and two steals.
Both the Mustangs and Dragons games scheduled for Tuesday were moved up to Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Monticello (7-8, 5-4 Jefferson) hosts Goochland while Monroe (10-7, 3-6) has Orange at home.
