Once again, this one was on the big men. There was no question about it. Defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, rebounds on foul shots, drawing fouls and scoring in the paint — Rashad Talley, Jake Hendrix and Andrew Mann were all over the court. And though Albemarle had to withstand a late comeback from North Stafford, the Patriots held on and earned a Northwest Region tournament bid with their 57-51 victory over the Wolverines in the Commonwealth District semifinals.
“That’s been key for us all year,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “We have to play good defense and rebound. We can’t give teams second shots and when they take shots, they have to be contested.”
The Patriots were in command from the opening tip off until midway through the fourth quarter, never trailing and enjoying at least a three-possession lead for most of the game.
Albemarle started out the game with a 10-3 run and was able to extend their lead to double digits in the second quarter as Talley, Hendrix and Mann saddled North Stafford starters Gary Boone, Eric Shaw and Daniel Huggins with three fouls a piece in the first half.
“Before the game, coach talked to us about coming out with heart,” Talley said. “We tried to put everything inside and get their big men in foul trouble so that we could run our offense a little better.”
That they did, and with the Wolverines leaning on the bench, Albemarle went up by 15 points with a minute to play in third quarter.
But after three quarters of not being able to hit anything but easy layups, North Stafford’s offense finally came to life when Shaw re-entered the game in the fourth quarter. The sophomore guard hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers, all of them on the same spot on the floor to immediately axe down the deficit from 15 to six by the midway point of the final frame.
“They got hot and I wasn’t sure that we were going to be able to hold them off,” Maynard said. “(Shaw) was hitting everything.”
For the next four minutes, the two teams traded baskets. Albemarle guard Andrew Frazier was able to put his team back in front by 10 points with two minutes to play, but North Stafford immediately whittled the lead back to six. With the clock melting away, the Wolverines attempted to foul their way back into the game, but could not close the gap in the end.
“We were trading 3-point shots for 2-point shots, or some free throws here and there,” said North Stafford coach Brad Lear. “At that point we couldn’t do that. We had to trade 3-point shots for stops and that’s not what happened.”
Albemarle dominated the glass on both sides of the court, and made the most of their second chance opportunities on the offensive end. Talley, Hendrix and Mann each had at least seven rebounds, while no Wolverine had more than three.
Mayn Francisco, Frazier, Talley and Hendrix all finished with 11 points on the night. Talley finished with eight boards and a three steals to lead the way defensively.
Shaw was the top scorer for North Stafford with his 15-point effort, every point of which came from beyond the arc.
And as well as his team played, Maynard also made a point to acknowledge the home team advantage his squad owned on the night. The Wolverines traveled well, but were overshadowed by a rowdy bunch of Albemarle students.
“It was nice to have that enthusiasm back,” Maynard said. “I don’t know if it’s just because the economy’s been down or what, but we haven’t had a good student crowd like that in the past few years and I think that played a big part in winning for us. They kept us going.”
The Patriots will head to Stafford tonight at 7 p.m. for the Commonwealth title game. Albemarle also already knows that they will head to Patrick-Henry for their Northwest Region quarterfinal game.
