By Luke Nadkarni / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Austin Katstra scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Albemarle never trailed in a 73-61 victory over visiting Mount Vernon in the opening round of Region 5A North tournament, giving longtime head coach Greg Maynard his 400th career victory.
Katstra scored the Patriots’ first six points and never slowed down as Albemarle opened the game on a 9-2 run and used a stifling 1-3-1 defense which frustrated the Majors into poor shot selection and turnovers. Deterred by the inside presence of Katstra and Jake Hahn, Mount Vernon took to shooting from the outside and made just 2-of-8 from three in the first half.
“I hadn’t had a chance to scout Mount Vernon all year,” Maynard said. “I decided we’d play the 1-3-1 and do the best we can, and if we figured out who our best matchups were on man-to-man we’d go to that later. Fortunately, we never had to.”
Albemarle set the tempo by taking its time on offense and not allowing the more athletic Majors to speed the game up, taking a 9-4 lead into the second quarter. Mount Vernon cut the lead to 21-18 with 3:22 remaining on a three by Justin Jackson, but Albemarle held the Majors scoreless for the rest of the half and got two baskets from Juwan Carter and one each from Katstra and Myles Adams-Yates for an 11-point lead at the break.
“I thought we were giving them some easy shots during that stretch,” Maynard said. “Then we picked it up a notch. We started getting deflections and steals and breakaways on the other end.”
Katstra almost singlehandedly kept the Patriots in the lead in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his 31 points during that frame. That included six free throws, part of his 12-for-14 performance from the line on the night. As a team, Albemarle went 28-41 on foul shots compared to 11-for-19 for Mount Vernon.
“I’ve been trying to get to 30 all season,” Katstra said. “I didn’t even know how many I had till after the game.”
The Majors hung around in the third despite Katstra’s output and cut the lead to 44-37 on a basket by Teral Terral with 30 seconds left in the quarter. But Albemarle’s Kennedy Brown nailed a three, his only field goal of the game, as the horn sounded to bring the lead back to double digits going into the final period.
Albemarle kept its foot on the gas in the fourth, stretching the lead to as many as 16 on an two Justice Taylor free throws with a minute and a half to play. The Majors put up a late push, sinking three three-pointers in the final stages of the game, but never got closer than seven points. For the game, Mount Vernon finished 8-of-25 from three while AHS was 3-of-5.
Following the victory, Maynard was presented with a basketball commemorating his milestone victory.
“I’m just proud of my team for winning a regional game,” Maynard said. “I didn’t even think about [the milestone] until the announcement at the end.”
Albemarle will travel to defending state champion Potomac in the next round of the tournament tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
