STANARDSVILLE — As if falling to Fluvanna County on Tuesday night didn’t make life tough on Charlottesville as it was, the injury and flu bug decided to bite the Black Knights this week just before Thursday night’s matchup with William Monroe.
And for the third straight game, Charlottesville found itself in double-digit hole, but also for the third straight game, the Black Knights dug themselves out before going on a quick run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to bounce back and pick up a tough road win against the Greene Dragons, 75-67.
“It seems like right now whenever anyone gets hurt or sick there’s always someone stepping up,” said Black Knights coach Mitch Minor. “We needed this game after the loss to Fluvanna. We needed to get back into the flow of things.”
Both squads came out of the gate running and there was no shortage of offense in the first quarter. Behind the play of Markees Towles and Desmon Shaver, the Dragons surged and jumped out in front of the Black Knights by 10 points.
But Charlottesville closed the gap at halftime and as both teams battled back and forth, Minor decided to switch from man-to-man, the staple of his program, to a 2-3 zone. The move worked, with the Black Knights forcing back-to-back turnovers and riding the momentum to a 10-point lead of their own early in the fourth quarter.
“I thought that was the turning point in the game,” said William Monroe coach Mike Maynard.
Charlottesville never relinquished the lead because after a slow start to the game, star senior forward Maurice Jackson came to life.
“I’ll give it to William Monroe, they played good defense,” Jackson said. “It was hard (to shoot) from outside and so my team told me to just go to the basket. I did that and was able to crash the boards, get some rebounds. They kept telling to keep going to the basket, I did and I was finally able to find my shots there.”
Jackson led the Black Knights with 23 points, but until he got hot in the second half, Charlottesville got plenty of help from role players. Without Daquan Jones playing, the team’s primary inside player, the Black Knights turned to sophomore Rickquan Jones to help out defensively in the paint.
“Losing Dayquan for this game was a big factor,” Jackson said. “But Rayquan stepped up huge as the big man for us tonight.”
The sophomore made the most of his playing time as a starter, chipping in 10 points, seven rebounds and a pair of big time blocks. Devin Turner had a big first half, scoring eight points and hauling in seven boards and finished with 14 and 10 respectively. Damion Morton came up big at moments scoring 10 points, as did Dominique Perkins off of the bench. The senior forward scored eight.
Shaver led all scorers with 26 points and also picked up nine rebounds. Towles also had a big game with 18 points.
It was a tough week for the Dragons as they fell to Orange County in overtime early in the week and followed that with the narrow loss to CHS.
And although he would appreciate some wins to help his team’s seeding for the upcoming Jefferson District tournament, Maynard is happy with the manner with which his team is performing.
“We’re young — we’ve only got one senior – but we’re getting better every game,” Maynard said. “In the past there’s been some of William Monroe beating William Monroe. Tonight that definitely wasn’t the case. I thought a good Charlottesville team had to come out and beat us.”
Charlottesville (9-6, 8-1) will host Fluvanna on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Monroe (5-13, 3-8) heads to Louisa County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
