By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
In a raucous environment with the Mustang Maniacs sporting their best costumes, the visiting Western Albemarle boys basketball team and the black-clad Crozet Crazies snatched a 57-51 victory from Monticello in an early-season Jefferson District showdown.
“I think handling this environment takes a little bit of trial and error and time,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “We’re so young that I think we finally settled in a little bit [after halftime]. Our two seniors stepped up when we really had to have them.”
Trailing by eight at the break, the Warriors’ two senior guards sparked a huge third quarter turnaround. Josh Casteen capped Western’s 10-2 run over the first two minutes and change of the third quarter with consecutive three-pointers.
“We’ve had a problem this year with the third quarter and coming out slow, so we just wanted to put a good run on to get back in the game,” said Casteen.
Moments later, Carter Berry hit a triple to put Western ahead 38-35, a lead it would not relinquish.
“Coming back, especially on the road, from eight points is huge, and you need to knock down shots,” said Berry, who finished with a team-high 12 points. “We got a bunch of different contributors in the second half. Carrington Murphy had some layups, Will Cress and Josh knocked down shots, and [sophomore point guard] Ryan Ingram handled the press really well.”
With Maynard switching to a zone, the Warriors’ defense locked down over the last two minutes of the third and the first 3:20 of the fourth as they outscored Monticello 9-3 to build an eight-point lead of their own.
“Darren made some good adjustments,” said Monticello coach Robert Shelton, as Western denied senior center Rashad Brooks any points from the field in the second half after he poured in a game-high 11 in the first. “He packed it in a little bit. We had some opportunities to get [Brooks] the ball, but we just didn’t make the play to get it in there a couple times. A few of those passes we threw out of bounds.”
Mustang senior guard Savion Thomas trimmed Western’s lead to 51-47 with 3:23 remaining when he hit a three from the left corner and drew a foul, but he missed the free throw that would have completed the four-point play. Senior center Rashad Brooks tallied his only second-half points with a pair of free throws with 1:03 left that pulled Monticello within 53-51, but then Berry drained all four of his free throws in the final 32 seconds, sandwiched around a costly Monticello turnover.
“At the end, to seal up the game, you need to knock down free throws,” Berry said. “You can’t think about the situation; you just have to think about the ball going in.”
Early on, Monticello pushed the tempo and used a 10-0 run starting late in the first quarter to open a 21-12 lead midway through the second. The teams battled evenly from there amidst a flurry of fouls; referees whistled a combined 25 team fouls in the first half.
“I thought our free throw problems in the first half got us in a hole,” said Maynard, as the Warriors connected on just 10 of 20 attempts from the line. “We’d have probably been even if we could have shot a decent percentage.”
After Berry, Casteen finished with 11 points. Junior forward Carrington Murphy tallied eight points, all in the second half.
Thomas finished with a game-high 17 points for Monticello. After Brooks’ 13, senior guard Robbie Deane rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11, but like Brooks, had a quiet second half.
“It’s a learning experience,” Shelton said. “Monticello is a slow-starting team as far as the beginning of the year. We’ve got to learn some things playing games.”
Monticello heads to Fluvanna on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Western is back in action Saturday afternoon hosting Fort Defiance before heading to Orange for a Jefferson District matchup on Tuesday.
