In a game that was mostly even, there was one burst. For three minutes in the third quarter, William Monroe broke loose, creating turnovers on defense and turning them into points in the lane. The Dragons had to hold serve in the fourth, including knocking down some late free throws to keep Riverside at bay, but the spree at the end of the third proved to be the real difference in a 55-47 win in the Conference 28 semifinals.
“At halftime we just talked about being confident in our game and getting our shot,” said Monroe coach Brett Maynard. “We knew that if we kept playing our game, played the kind of tough defense we’ve played before, that we could win this game.”
Before outscoring Riverside by 11 in the last minutes of the third, the Dragons were trailing 33-30. Also, before that run, Monroe led just once in the contest, at 27-25 in the opening seconds of the third. So for roughly the first 21 minutes of an elimination game with a Region 3A East bid on the line, the Dragons were fighting to stay above water.
Riverside took a 8-3 lead to start the first quarter, but Monroe cut the deficit to 14-13 going into the second. That frame saw the Rams go up 21-15, but again the Dragons rallied to trim the margin to just one point heading into halftime.
“We just had to keep fighting,” said Monroe’s Jalen Anderson. “Our goal is to cut that net.”
The third quarter started with Anderson knocking down Monroe’s only 3-pointer of the game, and one that gave the Dragons their first lead. But what followed was an 8-3 for Riverside to put Monroe at a 33-30 disadvantage. And then the Dragons channeled the energy that propelled them to a drubbing of Skyline on Friday.
“We just kept attacking the basket and it was a physical game,” Maynard said. “The first half we just weren’t finishing, even though they were good looks. They just weren’t going in. The second half was a bit different, things started to fall for us.”
With Kam’ron McCain running the show at the point and distributing, the Dragons attacked the basket with Malique Shackelford, Anthony Terry and Anderson. The latter trio scored all 21 of their team’s third quarter points. What started as a 10-0 run finished as a 13-4 close to the third to send the Dragons into the fourth up 45-37.
“We just came in at halftime talking about how this could be our last game, that we needed to get it together,” McCain said. “Coach told us that the outside shots weren’t falling so it was about attacking the rim. That’s what we did, tried to put them foul trouble and get to the free throw line.”
The pace in the fourth slowed down a bit, but with Terry and Shackelford attacking the basket Monroe stayed ahead by three possessions most of the rest of the way. With Riverside forced to foul, McCain was able to carry the offense momentarily at the free throw line. The Rams got as close as 52-47 with 24.7 seconds left, but when Terry hit a pair of free throws on the next trip down the floor, the game was out of reach for good.
On the night, Terry finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Anderson had 19 points. Shackelford added 12 points and McCain followed up his 18 assist showing on Friday (good for second all-time in the VHSL record book) with 10 assists to go with his six points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
With the victory, Monroe will play in next week’s Region 3A East tournament after a one year hiatus. The Dragons will host the Conference 28 championship game first though, and that will be on Thursday at 7 p.m.
“To make it to the Conference championship is getting to something that we didn’t last year,” Maynard said. “Tonight was about resiliency, being down a little bit for a lot of the game and just staying strong and keeping on working.”
