Western Albemarle, largely on the strength of eight of Lewis Childers’ 11 fourth quarter points, had cut Albemarle’s lead to just four points midway through the third quarter.
Albemarle’s Ben Wesson put a stop to that charge.
Wesson buried three straight 3-pointers as part of a 26-point night where he accounted for half of the Patriots’ points in a 52-46 win over archrival Western.
“We did a good job as a team of not getting too flustered with their press and my teammates did a good job of finding me in that moment,” Wesson said.
Wesson hit four 3-pointers, went 6-for-6 at the line and simply took things to another level in the fourth quarter with the electric series of 3-pointers that effectively put the game away.
“It’s awful early to have to play your archrival in the first district game of the year,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “(Ben’s threes) that’s what put us over the top. They cut it to four and then he responded.”
It was a bounce back win for the Patriots after what appeared to be a win over William Fleming slipped away in a chaotic fourth quarter earlier this week.
“We really learned a lot about how to finish a game in the fourth quarter the other night when we didn’t do it,” Maynard said. “Tonight we did, with some real good defensive stops.”
Albemarle managed to handle Western Albemarle’s height advantage early on and built a 23-17 halftime lead with strong play from Makai Ragland, Derrius Jones and Noah Grevious despite giving up some serious height to the Warriors’ front line of 6-foot-7 Elliot Kessler, 6-foot-6 Sean Lanahan and 6-foot-10 James Dahl. While Grevious tying up players much taller than him has become par for the course over the last couple of years (he also chipped in eight points and five boards), Ragland, a freshman, and Jones, a sophomore, stepped up in a big way.
“Makai, Isaiah (Harris), Derrius, all the young guys – we knew they were going to be good but they’re really making a big impact this year,” Wesson said. “They’re really going to be a big help.”
Ragland had six points in the third quarter and five rebounds in the game while Jones provided a valuable big body against Western’s array of post players.
“Hayden Yow played super off the bench, Makai Ragland played super off the bench and then Ben’s big threes,” Maynard said.
Benny Koutone had four steals for the Patriots while Hayden Yow managed the point guard duties well against Western’s high pressure defense.
Childers played particularly well down the stretch for Western, hitting three 3-pointers in the second half en route to 16 points including a turnaround midrange jumper off the dribble. The Warriors couldn’t overcome a rough night at the free throw line 8-for-21 performance at the free throw line as a team that left too many points on the floor. Kessler finished with 11 points.
The Patriots will hit the road next in district play with a Tuesday clash against Louisa while Western will look to bounce back the same night at home against Fluvanna County.
