By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplay.com
After three quarters in the Conference 23 championship, the Charlottesville boys basketball team found itself in uncharted territory against visiting Fluvanna County, who they had beaten three times already this season, as they trailed 44-34 going into the final eight minutes. Just based on the way both teams had played in the third quarter, most people in the gym probably thought the Black Knights were headed for a road game in the regional tournament.
Charlottesville head coach Mitch Minor was not part of that crowd and relayed that message to his team between quarters.
“We were down, but I told the guys to keep their composure and cut the lead two points at a time,” Minor said. “We needed to be patient and we were.”
The Black Knights responded by taking their signature pressure defense to the next level, forcing copious turnovers in the opening stages of the fourth quarter and storming back with a 12-0 run over the next 5:48 to take the lead and Fluvanna never got back in front.
“Going to our halfcourt trap really helped us,” Minor said. “It was a change Fluvanna hadn’t seen before.”
Senior forward Kendell Dennis posted a career-high 23 points for CHS, so perhaps it was fitting that he got the run started with a fast-break layup in the opening moments of the quarter. Caleb Gage converted on another fast break, then Mica Girstantas connected on a three-pointer to trim the margin to three with six minutes left. On the other end, Girstantas took a charge to give the ball back to Charlottesville, sending the Black Knight faithful into a frenzy and causing Fluvanna to call a timeout.
“I honestly feel like we have the best student section in central Virginia,” CHS point guard Jordan Saylor said. “When they get into it, we get into it, and it’s crazy.”
After the timeout, Dennis picked up where he left off with a short jumper to make it 44-43, then cleaned up a miss by Gage on the fast break and put it in off the glass to give Charlottesville its first lead since it was 10-9 at the three-minute mark of the first quarter.
“We just played aggressively and made plays on defense,” Dennis said. “Being down late is real nerve-wracking, but we have to play through it.”
Girstantas completed the run with a free throw, but the Flucos tied it up on a basket by Vinny Agee with 2:12 left. Agee, who led all scorers with 26 points, then answered two free throws by Saylor with two of his own with 1:21 remaining to knot the score at 48-48. Unfortunately for Fluvanna, that would be the last time they scored.
Saylor, who was held to just six points due to being chased by Fluvanna’s Julian Bonner as part of a tenacious one-on-one assignment, scored perhaps the most important points of the game on a layup with exactly a minute left to put CHS ahead for good and blow the roof off the gym. In between several Fluco misses, Dennis and Gage sealed the win with layups.
“I can’t give Julian enough credit for guarding Saylor like he did,” Fluvanna head coach Munro Rateau said. “Then at the end, [Charlottesville] knew who they had to go to and set some screens on him and he got past Julian and scored some.”
After a tight first quarter that ended with Fluvanna in front 13-10, the Flucos controlled much of the middle portion of the game. They held a four-point lead at halftime behind 14 first-half points from Agee, who hit both of Fluvanna’s three-pointers. In the third quarter, the Flucos grabbed a nine-point lead on two occasions and stretched it to as large as 12 on a basket by Agee with 40 seconds left before the horn. However, that proved to be Fluvanna’s last points until they had squandered the lead.
Charlottesville, usually a hot-shooting team from three, made just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. But they made up for it with a 12-of-16 output from the free-throw line, including a 5-for-5 performance from Dennis. Fluvanna was also stellar from the stripe, going 10-for-11.
Both teams earned berths in the regional tournament by getting to the conference title game. Fluvanna will travel north to Woodgrove, while Charlottesville will host Millbrook. Both games will be played on Saturday.
