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Never too late: Madison surges in fourth, takes overtime win over Monroe in epic battle

Photo: John Berry

The bar has been set in this second week of January for the game of the year on the hardwood. And it has been set high. The nature of a William Monroe and Madison County rivalry game carries its own swagger as it’s one of, if not the, tensest rivalries among Central Virginia schools. But take that and add the nature of this game. This one had everything. A blazing start from the Dragons. A battle between the second and third quarters. And of course, and most importantly for the Mountaineers, a thrilling comeback effort to force overtime and an eventual victory, 69-66.

 

“We hadn’t played since last Tuesday so you’re leary coming back and especially with a game of this magnitude,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “I think that’s what we saw early on and in the fourth quarter, things just started clicking, we started playing so much better. The ball pressure was great and our energy was there. We got after loose balls, made plays under the basket.”

 

For this one, you had to start at the beginning. Monroe raced out to a 12-0 start as Charlie Richards hit a trio of 3’s and Kam’ron McCain hit from beyond the arc as well. Richards hit on five of his first seven 3-point attempts and the Dragons, despite enduring an 8-1 run from the Mountaineers late in the second, went into the break up 32-25.

 

Behind Anthony Terry and Malique Shackelford’s work in the paint in the start of the second half, the Dragons reclaimed a double digit lead and went up by as much as 15. But a hustle play from Isiah Smith followed by an Elijah Lewis three that cut the Dragons lead to 53-47 got the gym in Madison buzzed. Then Smith cut the lead to 56-53. All the while, Monroe was getting opportunities at the basket, had Mountaineers senior forward in Dre Tyman in foul trouble, and was getting more than its share of free throws. But that was the window that allowed Madison to crawl back.

 

Monroe took 33 free throws on the night, hitting just 12 and in the fourth quarter was 6-for-13 (despite a 4-for-4 showing from Kam’ron McCain) and then went 1-for-8 in overtime.

 

“We could have wrapped it up at the line but you give a lot of credit to (Madison) because they’ve got a good team, good athletes, they’re well-coached and they played hard. I thought we played just as hard. We just didn’t make enough free throws down the stretch.”

 

With Kobi Alexander making a huge difference on defense, Smith and Gaines Swink took over on offense for Madison. With the deficit at three points in the fourth, Smith eventually put Madison up 58-56 on an and-1 with just over four minutes to play.

 

“We started the game off real slow and coach (Breeden) told us to pick up the intensity and we eventually did,” Smith said.

 

The clock melted away from there with controlled possessions. The Dragons played for a last shot situation that resulted in Madison getting the ball getting a chance right at the buzzer to put things away but the ball just wouldn’t fall through and it was off to overtime.

 

“That breakaway, we missed it, but we just tried to forget about it and get back out there and play,” Breeden said.

 

From there, it was attrition. In the four minute overtime, Madison and Monroe battled at the free throw line, unsuccessfully for the most part, and with just over a minute to play, the Mountaineers had a 67-66 lead. When Swink made it 69-66 at the line with 5.3 seconds left, the worst that could happen for a now charged Madison crowd was overtime as Monroe got the ball down court. Instead, Swink came up with the ball underneath the hoop, the clock ran out and the celebration from a court-storming fan base began.

 

“On the bench we talked about how we just could not let them beat us,” Alexander said. “We had close enough records, we came out in the second half and just had to find a way. Our momentum changed. We picked it up at the end and the guys off the bench stepped it up.”

 

For Monroe, Terry had a team high 24 points. Shackelford finished with 16. Richards added 15 on his five first half three’s. McCain chipped in seven. And the battle between two 1-loss teams both ranked in the state carries plenty of lessons going forward.

 

“We need to learn from this, do the little things right to grow as a team,” Maynard said. “I hope this game helps us. It was a tough environment where we couldn’t hear the calls from the bench. We need to be a more mature basketball team, communicate amongst ourselves moving forward.”

 

Madison was led by Smith’s 25, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter and in overtime. He had 11 rebounds and nine assists as well to come close to a triple double. Alexander finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds and three steals while Twyman had 11 points and nine boards. Swink threw in nine points, all in the second half.

 

The Mountaineers (11-1) travel to George Mason on Saturday at 8 p.m. while the Dragons (11-2) will play host to Clarke on January 23 at 7:30 p.m.

 

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