Western Albemarle sophomore Travis Hester got a few words of wisdom from a guy who’d been there before.
“It was my first Jefferson District final and obviously the seniors had more experience than I did, so it took me a quarter to get on their level,” Hester said. “At halftime (former Western Albemarle standout and sharpshooter) Travis Washington came over and gave me a pep talk and I guess it got me in the zone.”
After that, the sophomore settled in and turned it on, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter and 22 in the game to spark Western Albemarle past Charlottesville in the Jefferson District championship game 58-54 Friday night at Monticello.
Hester has been good enough all year to earn second team All-Jefferson District honors, so it wasn’t really a coming out party. But it was certainly a statement.
“I thought he was a little nervous at the beginning of the game and made some uncharacteristic mistakes for him,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “I think it’s a real growing up experience for him because he was clutch down the stretch. Those threes were just huge. He got over that (nervousness) and played some basketball.”
Hester, who was 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, got some offensive help too. Western’s other usual suspects, Christian Pierce and Dante Crawford, had big time games for the Warriors. Pierce poured in 21 points and hauled down 18 rebounds — 16 of them on the defensive end. Crawford narrowly missed a double double with 10 points and nine rebounds, but those 10 points included an emphatic alley oop off a Stephen Schuler pass in the second quarter.
The win didn’t come easy by any means though. Charlottesville got a classic performance from senior guard Maurice Jackson, who poured in 31 points in the loss despite having Crawford, who holds a significant height advantage over Jackson, in his face down the stretch on every possession.
Charlottesville rarely trailed by more than two possessions, and got a chance to turn things around in a big way early in the fourth when, with the Black Knights down by eight, Jackson buried a 3-pointer and an off ball foul got Charlottesville a chance at the free throw line. It was a rare five-point possession opportunity, but the Black Knights couldn’t convert, and from there Western made just enough free throws to hold off Charlottesville.
Devin Turner gave the Black Knights one more chance with a 3-point attempt that could’ve tied the game with 10 seconds left that rimmed out. Christian Pierce hit a free throw a few seconds later that gave Western a four-point advantage and sealed the win.
“I thought we were rushing and taking some bad shots,” said CHS coach Mitch Minor. “We settled down a little bit and took better shots, got back in the game and got into the flow of the game a lot better.”
It was Western’s first win over the Black Knights this year after squandering leads in the first two meetings. In the second installment, Charlottesville cranked up the pressure with a full court press in the fourth quarter, and Minor went back to what worked that time Friday night, but with less effectiveness.
“They did a better job of breaking it this time,” Minor said. “They made a little adjustment but it was still a good effort defensively.”
Daquan Jones finished with 13 points while Turner had eight on the night for the Black Knights.
Both teams will play in the Region II, Division 3 tournament next week, likely as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. Look for more details Sunday or Monday for regional matchups.
