A raucous early-season crowd saw homestanding Charlottesville leverage a 15-0 scoring burst spanning halftime to hold off a late Albemarle rally and preserve a 59-53 victory.
“It was a game of spurts, and it came at the right time,” Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor said. “We kind of sensed they were tired, so we turned up the pressure a little bit. We got a couple of easy steals for layups, and that picked up everyone else to play harder.”
After a slow start in the first three and a half minutes where Albemarle built a 7-2 lead, Charlottesville’s veteran guards took control of the tempo. The Knights were deliberate on offense, forcing a Patriot team playing its third game of the week to defend for long possessions.
At the same time, the defense extended full-court pressure and trapped Albemarle’s guards in the offensive halfcourt, triggering several turnovers and fast-break scores in the second quarter. CHS senior Caleb Gage executed a steal-and-score to tie the game at 23 and force AHS coach Greg Maynard to call timeout with 1:23 left in the half. Instead of curbing the tide, CHS added two more buckets to take a 27-23 lead into the break.
“I think their [guards’] quickness and penetrating ability had a lot to do with it,” said Maynard. “Our post had to help out to stop the guards, and we didn’t recover quickly enough to box out.”
The Knights extended their run early in the third, scoring the first nine points to open a 36-23 lead before Albemarle finally answered with a bucket at the 5:02 mark. Sophomore Kajuan Stinnie had a big frame for CHS off the bench, tallying three inside baskets, including a dunk that made it 40-25 and prompted an Albemarle timeout. By game’s end, he also led the Knights with double-digit rebounds.
“He played really hard for us tonight,” Minor said of his young forward. “He’s going to get better as the year goes on. We want him to play with that intensity all the time, and he can be a real good player for us down the road.”
CHS took a 47-33 advantage into the fourth, but Patriots’ junior forward Jake Hahn would fuel a rally. Hahn scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the quarter, though he left some points at the foul line. He made 3-of-6 in the quarter, reflective of Albemarle’s 14-of-28 performance for the game.
“That’s two games in a row we haven’t shot free throws very well,” Maynard said. “It’s our sixth game in a 10-day period. The first four we shot free throws very well, so I don’t know if our legs are tired or whatever. That’s a lot of games to play in a short stretch this early.”
Albemarle pulled within two possessions at 50-44 with 3:53 remaining, but could not connect from long-range to complete the rally. Charlottesville had three players foul out down the stretch, but while the Patriots failed to cash-in, Gage and senior guard Murray Hill were still around to hit 9-of-12 fourth quarter free throws as Albemarle extended the game.
“We had some bad stretches, especially with turnovers,” Maynard said. “When we stayed in control and ran our offense, like we did in the fourth quarter, we’re in good shape.”
Gage led Charlottesville with 17 points, followed by Tyreek Ragland with 15. Hill added 9, all in the second half. Hahn’s double-double led the Patriots, while Myles Adams-Yates and Justice Taylor each scored 8.
Albemarle (3-3, 1-1) gets a break until next Friday when it heads over to Monticello. Charlottesville (3-0, 2-0) plays Tuesday night at Louisa.
