Albemarle boys basketball needed someone tall to play defense on Austin Katstra and Jake Hahn in practice, and Chris Hughes, a 6-foot-4 senior who wasn’t on the team during last year’s state final four run, stepped up to the challenge.
“That’s why he was on the team and he’s had a good attitude, he’s done what he’s supposed to do,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “That’s a special thing for me when a kid has a fun season like that and he has.”
Friday, as part of the Patriots’ senior night festivities, Hughes got to start the game and chipped in with five points as the Patriots clinched the Jefferson District regular season title with an 83-57 victory over Monticello.
“The kids were so excited at Wednesday’s practice when I announced he’d be starting and we set up a couple of cuts in our offense where he was the first cut and it actually worked later in the game,” Maynard said.
A potential co-regular season district championship for the Patriots became an outright title just minutes after the final buzzer as Charlottesville knocked off Western across town.
“It means a ton, we knew we had to take care of business and we couldn’t control what happened over at CHS,” said Albemarle’s Austin Katstra. “This feels good to get that W.”
The Patriots will now host the Jefferson District tournament. Western would’ve hosted by virtue of a draw if the two squads had tied.
Katstra continued a big week with 26 points and 17 rebounds. He had 37 points and 18 boards against Powhatan earlier this week. Katstra’s 15 points in the second quarter came in large part after he absorbed an intentional foul on a breakaway and from there seemed to ratchet up the intensity to a different level. Na’il Arnold also had five during that frame as Albemarle opened up a 41-16 halftime lead.
“Offensively I thought we did a pretty solid job all night,” Maynard said. “We like to play good defense, harass the other team into some bad decisions where we can get in our running game and go.”
Albemarle played a zone for longer stretches than usual, starting in it because Hughes got the nod to start as a senior and Maynard was concerned that with the Mustangs’ array of guards they wouldn’t be able to matchup with three big men on the floor. But then the Mustangs started to get some penetration going in the second half, prompting a change.
“That’s why we went back to the zone (later in the game),” Maynard said.
The Mustangs couldn’t find an answer for Katstra in the first half, and while the offense got a little bit going in the second half, there were in too deep of a hole to really challenge. J’Quan Anderson and Jake Hahn helped the Patriots hold Monticello at arm’s length with 15 points each. Ukari Brooks finished with 22 points to lead the Mustangs while Ben Drake had 10.
Hahn also had seven rebounds to go with his 15 points while Anderson dished out five assists with his 15. Cartier Key made the offense go with seven assists on the night while Kaysean Allen had three steals in a solid defensive performance.
The Patriots will host the Jefferson District tournament next week and will likely face Louisa County in the semifinals. The next week, in Conference 16 play, the Patriots will be the No. 1 seed and will get a bye through the first round. Monticello will turn toward Conference 29 tournament play after a week off.
