It’s not often both sides come out of tournament semifinal feeling good, but when you shoot like Louisa County did and force a team like Albemarle to play up to its resume, that’s how it worked out on Monday between the two. The Patriots took the punches that the Lions offered, and they were good ones, and managed to hold off the fourth seeded visitors for a 72-68 win and spot in the Jefferson District tournament championship game to set up yet another meeting with Western Albemarle.
“That’s what I like about this tournament,” said Patriots coach Greg Maynard. “We knew coming in that we were going get a chance to play potentially two quality opponents, quality games that help us get ready for future opponents, more teams that will give us good competition. And Louisa, they came out on fire and they shot the ball really well and made us work. We had to respond.”
The Lions started the game with a 5-0 run and led 16-10 late in the first before the Patriots hit a stride offensively to tie the game at 18-18 headed to the second quarter. While Louisa saw Jermaine Pace and Jayvon Jackson lead the way early, Albemarle got a counter punch from Austin Katstra and Myles Adams-Yates.
“I thought we hit our groove in the second quarter,” Katstra said. “They were shooting pretty well from outside, sometimes we didn’t quite get a hand in their face, or when they shot really deep, we didn’t always box out too well. Still, overall I thought we played it pretty well. For the most part, we were able to turn long rebounds into points.”
It remained close in the second quarter before the Patriots bench provided a difference to make it a 31-22 game midway through the frame. The Lions fought back late though and heading to the break it was 36-30.
In the third quarter, Albemarle played its best and took a 54-41 advantage as Katstra continued to pour it on inside on a night where he had four dunks and the Lions had few answers for his ability to finish. It was also in the third that Jake Hahn got warmed up. With those two and Yates getting the job down almost exclusively in the paint, the Patriots looked comfortable going into the fourth.
“They were pressuring us so much on the wing that the backdoor stuff off of screens — that’s how we were able to get a lot of our points,” Katstra said. “I thought that was how we got the layups, dunks, short jumpers.”
However in the fourth, Louisa channeled its play in the first as they clawed back to within five points behind Pace and Jackson with just under two minutes to play. The Lions were forced to foul the Patriots the rest of the way through, and while Louisa continued to convert offensively, Albemarle hit enough free throws to avoid the upset and go up by seven with just a few seconds left.
“We had control of the game, but never quite felt comfortable,” Maynard said. “We hit enough free throws and then Austin had a late dunk that put us up by enough.”
A last second three pointer from MaLachi Poindexter made it a four point game with five seconds left, but the Patriots were able to run the clock out without inbouding the baseline pass.
“We shot the ball extremely well, we just couldn’t get enough stops on defense because Albemarle ran their offense so well, got a couple of easy lobs and layups on us,” said Louisa coach Robert Shelton. “I was happy with the guys because they didn’t let that deter them, they buckled down and just kept playing. I’m proud of the effort and the way they fought tonight.”
For Albemarle, Katstra finished with a team-high 23 points, eight rebounds and six blocks. Adams-Yates had 15 points and six rebounds. Hahn had 10 points and seven rebounds. Grant Kersey chipped in eight points.
Pace led all scorers with his 27-point effort. Jackson gave the Lions two in double figures with his 11 points. Both Poindexter and Latrell Winkey finished with eight points.
The Lions will open Conference 19 play next week. Albemarle moves on to play Western Albemarle on Friday at 8 p.m. at Charlottesville.
“After losing last week, we definitely want to get that win back,” Katstra said. “We hate losing to anyone, but losing to Western in particular, we’re looking to go into that trying to redeem ourselves.”
