Albemarle’s boys basketball team is off to a hot 5-1 start, at first glance due in large part to junior Carter Wesson’s play, as he’s made a leap from his impressive sophomore campaign to become one of the area’s most dynamic scorers.
But Greg Maynard was sure to note that his team’s selflessness is the main reason for the Patriots’ early success.
“Carter Wesson has been scoring a lot, but that’s not by design,” Maynard said. “We’re just really well balanced and we try to spread the floor and get good shots for anybody.”
The box score Friday night reflected the team effort in Albemarle’s 75-38 win over Monticello. Wesson had 16, La’Mari Parler had 15, Jason Breen had 13, Ben Wesson had nine, TaeVeon Wilson had seven points and nine boards to lead a balanced Patriot attack.
Right out of the gate, Monticello played tough defense and it set the tone for an intense edition of the cross-county rivalry. Ben Giese nailed a three early to give the Mustangs an early spark, and Albemarle found themselves knotted with the gritty Mustangs 8-8 with two minutes left in the first.
“I thought we were playing good defense in the first quarter, I just thought we weren’t finishing our shots on the inside, and weren’t making our outside shots either. Some of it was Monticello just playing really good defense.” Maynard said.
Wesson saw something similar.
“We definitely could have played better in the first quarter.” Wesson said. “We picked it up on defense a little bit and kept fighting.”
Parler hit a three late to help Albemarle get some breathing room and lead 15-8 after one. Monticello got a great look at the basket but the shot rimmed out after hitting the iron four times. The Pats turned up the heat and started hitting shots, ripping off an 18-2 run to stretch the lead to 26-10 in the 2nd.
Monticello’s Kasai Hansberry made tough back-to-back buckets and Giese nailed a corner three to cut the lead to 28-17 giving the Mustangs new life, but Ben Wesson, the younger of the Wesson brothers, scored six points and ended the half on a tough pull up jumper to push Albemarle’s lead back up to 22.
The Pats extended their lead from there in the third. Breen scored seven of his 13 in the frame, and TaeVeon Wilson had three tough inside buckets to put the game out of reach.
Albemarle moves to 5-1 on the year and 2-0 in the Jefferson with two big blowouts, the other one being a 93-44 win over the newest District addition Goochland.
“I told my kids in the locker room to be pleased with the way we’ve started this year but don’t be satisfied. We’ve got a lot of tough games the rest of the way.” Maynard said.
Ben Ritterbond led Monticello, who is now 0-6, with 11. Kasai Hansberry had eight and Giese added seven. The Mustangs will look to bounce back on December 28th at Fort Defiance.
Albemarle will move into the Daily Progress Tournament, which will have a round robin set-up this year, after Christmas. The Patriots are set to face Riverside, Broad Run, and Stafford alongside district foes Charlottesville and Western Albemarle in a tournament where teams from the Charlottesville area will play against good programs from Northern Virginia.
