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Riverside floods Albemarle with 3’s to put the Patriots on the road

Photo: Ryan Yemen

It’s not like Albemarle got caught by surprise — it played and beat Riverside earlier this year back in December. The 1-3-1 defense the Rams put out wasn’t a new look. The length of its forwards was evident back then too. What was a surprise was just how well and often the Rams knocked down their 3-pointers this time. The other surprise was Albemarle came out flat, something it didn’t do to in the Region 5B semifinals or in the previous meeting between these two. 

 

“I’m disappointed in our defense and our effort in the first half,” said Patriots coach Greg Maynard. “We weren’t getting out on the shooters, and you still gotta make the shot, but we should at least have a hand in their face and making it tougher. And so I thought be played with very little intensity in the first half and with each three they hit we got that much worse, we were shell shocked.”

 

The result was a 72-54 loss in a game that was never in doubt. The only good news on Tuesday night for Albemarle was there were no major injuries and it knew coming into tonight the worst case scenario meant losing a home game and heading to face Highland Springs on Friday in the Class 5A tournament. So now that scenario is in play and if the Patriots want their season to continue, they won’t be able to afford the kind of first half they had in the Region 5B championship game.

 

Out of the gate, Riverside was aggressive with its shooting and stayed that way most of the night. Why not? The Rams started on an 8-0 run with Cam Koscinski and Jaden Frazer raining down the shots from outside and Jamie Niamodh dominating the paint. Riverside was 4-for-4 from outside to start the game and just four minutes into the game the deficit was already 11 points. Trailing 20-7 heading into the second, the Patriots appeared to have stopped the bleeding by holding the Rams scoreless the first two minutes of the frame, but then another offensive explosion led almost entirely by Koscinski made it 33-9 in just two furious minutes.

 

“I mean it was nice, the three’s,” said Riverside coach Mike Koscinski. “This group has been with us a long time. We struggled mid-year in our league but we expected to be here competing at this level, but we’ve really caught on hot these last two weeks.” 

 

At the break it was 37-13. And with a strong effort to start the third quarter and then a solid fourth quarter, the Patriots actually won the second half 34-26. However, lost in that stat is the 12-3 run the Rams had to finish the third and enter the fourth with a comfortable enough lead to go to work on the clock as they were up 29 with less than eight minutes to go. And during that run, it was the 3-pointers again serving as the dagger as Riverside was 11-for-14 in that department before finally missing their last two attempts to finish the game at a measly 68.7%.

 

Christian Humes’ effort paired with some big shots from Jason Breen and Lamai Parler allowed Albemarle to cut the deficit into the teens, getting as close as 16 from the lead with 2:37 to play. Helping the process was Koscinski getting in early third quarter foul trouble and barely playing the entire second half after he quickly picked up his fourth once back in the game.

 

“We came out and competed in the second half like you have to when you’re in a Regional Championship game,” Maynard said. “We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. Give them credit though, they made all the shots and when they missed, (Ntiamoah) put in every rebound back in.”

 

But with the game 16 points away the Patriots put together their best defensive effort of the evening running a full court press, forcing turnovers and then fouling when unsuccessful to try and slow things down. But as was the theme most of the night, Riverside just wasn’t very cooperative as it hit 12 of its 14 fourth quarter free throws — 11 of those from the bench — and more over, the Rams were 17 for 20 on the night to keep things permanently out of reach.

 

For Albemarle, Humes finished with 16 points while Parler had 14. Breen added 11 points and Taeveon Wilson chipped in six points.

 

Riverside saw Frazer pour in 17 points with 15 of those on 3-pointers. Koscinski had 14 points with all of those in the first half. Ntiamoah had 15 points with all but a free throw coming from hard work in the paint. And for a bonus, the Rams got 11-for-12 shooting from its bench at the free throw line.

 

Now the focus for the Patriots is forgetting Tuesday, re-channeling last week’s effort and getting ready Highland Springs.

 

“We played a great game (last friday) with tremendous energy the whole game against a team that beat Riverside three times,” Maynard said. “I think we can come back Friday and play hard against Highland Springs on the road and give it a shot and maybe give it another chance with these guys (Riverside) one more time.”

 

 

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