Ben Turner and Austin Ellis knew that Western Albemarle had to get it together. Down five at the break to a Charlottesville squad the Warriors beat twice earlier this year and struggling on the boards, Western needed a lift.
“Coach kept saying that we needed to toughen up — they were dominating on the glass on both ends — so at halftime Ben and I kind of rallied the team together and said ‘we’ve got to step it up and we’ve got to play a lot tougher right now,” Ellis said.
Western got going immediately in the second half with a big run out of the locker room and then survived down the stretch for a 58-53 overtime victory. The victory proved critical when Fluvanna beat Monticello across the county and opened up an opportunity for the Warriors to play for first place next week against the Flucos.
Western rolled out with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter with Turner scoring four of the points including a pair of finishes on lobs over the top of the CHS defense. Turner looked like a different player after the break, exploding for 14 points in the second half. He finished with 19 points and nine boards on the night.
“His aggressiveness on offense was just way up there and I thought that was a big key,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “When he plays like that — when he wants it — he’s hard to stop.”
Ellis did a lot of the dirty work for the Warriors, including knocking down five of his six free throw attempts in overtime. He also came up with five boards, three steals and a pair of blocks to go with 11 points. The free throws helped seal it for the Warriors as they helped transform a narrow 51-50 margin into the five-point win.
“I struggle on the free throw line, that’s not my game,” Ellis said. “I was really nervous coming up and in my head I thought I was missing them both, so I (thought) it can’t get any worse than that. But then it turned out my way.”
Charlottesville simply couldn’t come up with a bucket when it needed to, particularly in overtime where a slow start sunk CHS. The Black Knights also lost control of the ball with less than five seconds to play in regulation after burning about 1:30 off the clock to get the final shot, surrendering a chance to end the game with a bucket.
“We couldn’t make a lay-up when we needed it but you can’t knock the effort our kids played really hard,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “We just didn’t finish on some shots.”
Western managed to hem in Demarcus Scott better during the second half after created much of CHS’s offense in the first half, but the Black Knights’ guard finished with 21 points and four assists.
While Turner and Ellis made an impact on the boards, Charlottesville got big-time performances underneath from Deshaun Blakey and Daquan Jones. Blakey had 11 points and 11 rebounds and another eight boards from Daquan Jones. Jones also had four assists.
Parker Morris finished with three assists for Western and Will Donnelly checked in with three steals. Morris hit two free throws late in overtime that pushed the Western lead to five and put the game out of reach for the Black Knights.
Western will host Fluvanna Tuesday in a matchup of the Jefferson District’s only two one-loss squads. The Black Knights will try and find their footing Saturday on the road against Harrisonburg.
