When Nathan Hyde first started playing for Covenant coach Ben DAlessandro, his skills were raw and overall he was seen as a long term project. But Hyde followed his coach’s instructions completely and years of hard work have come to fruition.
“Two years ago he wasn’t a player,” D’Alessandro said. “He’s really worked hard to develop his skills and in doing that he’s gotten himself in great shape. He’s a great teammate and gets a lot of support from everyone and so he’s developed a lot of confidence as well.”
Playing a makeup game against Nelson County in the Western Albemarle Tipoff Classic, Hyde showcased his talent in as he helped lead his team to a 66-59 victory over the Governors behind his 21-point performance and a busy day at the free throw line.
“The free throws were key for us,” Hyde said. “Their weren’t a lot of easy shots or easy buckets for us in the second half, so we had to hit our free throws. And that’s something that we’ve been focusing on a lot in the last few weeks of practice.
With the Eagles executing their press and producing mass turnovers for the majority of the first half, there was little evidence to suggest that free throws would wind up being the difference down the stretch.
“We put ourselves in a pretty big hole,” said Nelson coach Brandon Garrett. “Shooting the ball wasn’t what was hurting us. I actually thought we shot pretty well. We just committed too many turnovers.”
Covenant held a 15-point lead over the Governors going into the second half, but Nelson battled back beginning at the end of the third quarter as Quincy Murphy and Rodriguez Vest started sinking 3-pointers and Trey Barnett began drawing fouls whenever he his way inside the key.
Midway through the fourth frame, Vest’s fourth 3-pointer of the evening pulled the Govenors to within four points.
“I felt like we played two and a half quarters because we continued to make mistakes that let Nelson back into the game,” D’Alessandro said. “I felt like we were playing to score rather than playing to win.”
However, the Eagles would not relquinish their lead as they kept finding Hyde down low while also sinking their free throws to leave Crozet with a hard fought victory.
Joining Hyde in double-figures were Sam Dale, Miguel Frazier and Isaac Stewart-Silver who finished with 16, 15 and 12 points respectively.
For Nelson. Barnett led all scorers with 23 points. Vest finished with 16 points while Murphy contributed 15. The trio wound up compiling all but five of their team’s total points.
Covenant (9-2) will travel to Blue Ridge on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Nelson (2-6) hosts Dan River on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
