Photos
Between the sour taste from their first Jefferson District loss last week at the hands of Albemarle and the break for exams, to say that Western Albemarle was eager to get back on the court is putting it lightly.
“We’ve had some times over the year where we didn’t play well — this was not one of those weeks though,” said Warriors coach Darren Maynard. “I think last week had something to do with it. We came out wanting to redeem ourselves.”
A dominant performance on the glass paired with Josh Coffman and Chris McGahren’s deadly outside shooting proved to be too much from start to finish as the Warriors cruised to a 73-50 win on the road.
“We were looking for big effort rebounding because we weren’t happy about last Friday and I think we got that,” Maynard said. “We set the tone early and there were a few lapses where Monticello kind of got within striking distance but then we pulled ahead each time so this was a good win.”
Western got off to an 6-0 start in the first quarter and while Monticello stayed close to keep it 14-9 in the first part of the second quarter, from there the Warriors outside shooting, free throw shooting and rebounding on both sides of the floor proved to be too much. Going into the second half, Western was up 33-21.
“We had to get out to a good start because we didn’t want Monticello up in front of their crowd,” Coffman said. “Coaches worked on us hard this week on getting through our options, looking for the open shot and if it wasn’t there on the first or second, we found it on the fourth and fifth. It didn’t matter if that was a layup or a 3-pointer, it was about whatever was open.”
Out of the break, the Warriors only added to their lead as they took a 51-32 advantage into the fourth with the Mustangs unable to get much outside of Ukari Brooks. Meanwhile, it was in the third quarter that McGahren exploded as he poured in all but six of Western points and netted 15 of his 20 behind a trio of 3-pointers.
“Between McGahren and Coffman, they really lit it up and it makes a big difference with all the other stuff we’re doing,” Maynard said.
While Monticello got to within 14 points of the lead in the fourth, the Warriors kept knocking down big shots and by end of the night they soon had their largest margin of the evening, 23 points.
On the night, Coffman led all scorers with his 26 points. He hit a three in each frame and finished with seven 3-pointers. McGahren chipped in 20 points. Nick Yancey and Jared Carter each finished with seven points. The Warriors hit 18 of their 22 free throws. The Western bench was particularly strong as it poured in 37 points.
“If our bench plays the way it did tonight, I don’t think there are many teams that can beat us,” Coffman said. “If they play like that all the time we can be an elite team.”
For Monticello, Brooks finished with 19 points. Malik Barbour contributed seven while Jacoby Jackson was close behind with six points and Josh Rush added five.
Western hosts a possible Conference 29 playoff opponent in Turner Ashby today at 6:30 p.m. while Monticello travels to Orange County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
