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Albemarle trumps Charlottesville

Albemarle point guard Daiquan West was making every pass on the floor, breaking down the Charlottesville defense near the top of the key and quickly finding teammates for wideopen shots.

Senior Andrew Frazier was burying shot after shot to the tune of 16 points.

Rashad Talley was dominant underneath, pouring in 19 points.

And all of that made Albemarle coach Greg Maynard a happy man as the Patriots rolled 81-54 over the Black Knights.

“We shot the ball better than we normally do,” Maynard said. “We had a good balance of inside and outside. The first half was the best offensive half we’ve had all year, and Daiquan was a big part of it.”

West played perhaps his best game yet, dishing out six assists, coming up with a pair of steals and collecting six boards. The 5-foot-7 guard also knocked home 13 points in the victory, giving the Patriots a big-time spark.

“He’s amazing, he finds me all the time and I don’t know how he does it,” Talley said.

West was critical to the Patriots’ fast start — Albemarle led 13-3 midway through the first — and the balanced offensive attack, setting the table for Frazier to continue his emergence from a brutal shooting slump that started the year. During scrimmages and practices, Frazier appeared to be the top source of offense for the Patriots, but he stumbled out of the gate.

“He just got in a tough shooting slump for four or five games,” Maynard said. “Then he played really well the other night against Colonial Forge and even better tonight. Hopefully we’ve got him going in the right direction.”

Frazier buried a pair of threes and knocked down several jumpers. Even his misses turned into offense, with Talley cleaning up a pair of misses for stickbacks. Talley was perhaps the biggest beneficiary of West’s play, finishing off several West passes with buckets.

Charlottesville managed a bit of a rally in the third quarter, closing a big halftime gap to just 10 points with a run, but Talley provided the counterpunch.

“Credit the guys who got him the ball too, but he was answering their challenge and pulled that lead back up,” Maynard said.

Mayn Francisco finished with nine points to round out the balanced scoring effort.

Maurice Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, but struggled at times to find good shots in the flow of the CHS offense because of the Patriots’ aggressive defense. Rickquan Jones finished with nine points while Devin Turner chipped in eight. Turner helped Charlottesville stay in the game with a sterling performance at the point, knocking home six assists and pulling down seven boards.

“We dug ourseleves a big hole, but I was proud of the way we came back and cut it,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “But then they went on another spurt and we couldn’t keep that kind of pressure up the whole game.”

Charlottesville jumps back into Jefferson District play Tuesday against Louisa County on the road while Albemarle hosts Riverbend.

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