In a rematch of a rivalry last played just five days ago, Charlottesville once again defeated Albemarle in a tight 42-36 game to remain undefeated in the Jefferson District.
Last Friday’s matchup between these two rivals was a lopsided affair, with the Black Knights pulling away for a 13-point home victory at Charlottesville. But on Wednesday night at Albemarle with Josh Morse back in the lineup for Albemarle and CHS head coach Mitch Minor back on the bench the Black Knights had to work for it.
Zymir Faulkner scored five points in the first quarter and led all scorers with 24 points on the night, including four three pointers. Charlottesville led 9-8 after the first quarter.
After missing a week with an ankle injury, senior forward Josh Morse returned and made a huge impact for Albemarle. Morse led the Patriots with 18 points and 12 rebounds and freed up Albemarle’s outside shooters with his inside presence, something Albemarle sorely missed last time out against Charlottesville.
“Well Charlottesville plays such great defense,” Albemarle head coach Greg Maynard said. “We really struggled to score especially last Friday without Josh, so we were really determined to get him the ball and play off of him if they collapsed too much and hopefully our outside shooters would have a better chance of knocking some down.”
The two teams traded brief one-point leads for most of the second quarter, as there were six lead changes in the second quarter alone. Back to back Charlottesville threes by Zymir Faulkner and Aidan Yates stretched the Black Knights’ lead to five, before a La’mari Parler layup for Albemarle made it a 19-16 game at halftime.
In the third quarter, the game quickly turned into a game of runs. After a Faulkner bucket to start the second half, Albemarle went on an 11-1 run to take the lead. Chris Woods and Josh Morse each scored on and-one opportunities to kickstart that stretch. Then another Morse layup and a Will Hornsby three gave the Patriots their largest lead at 27-22.
Faulkner stopped the run with a bucket and went on an 8-0 run of his own with two more three-pointers to recover the lead for Charlottesville. Faulkner scored 10 of his 24 points in that critical third quarter, which ended with Charlottesville holding a 32-27 lead.
“My teammates found me,” Faulkner said. “My teammates and my coaches have confidence in me. I’m glad I was able to put up big numbers in the second half and get the win.”
Morse scored twice to start the fourth quarter to draw the Patriots back within one point, but that was the closest Albemarle would get as Faulkner continued to stay hot for Charlottesville.
“He was clutch for us,” said Charlottesville head coach Mitch Minor, who returned to the bench after missing most of the regular season after undergoing surgery.
After Zymir Faulkner made yet another shot to give Charlottesville a 36-31 lead with a minute and half remaining, Josh Morse responded with another and-one to cut it back to a two-point game with just 1:13 to play.
Morse had an opportunity to tie the game with 39 seconds remaining, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Faulkner got loose from the Albemarle press on the following play and scored a layup with a foul to seal the victory.
“It’s always great to play your rivals,” Minor said. “It’s great competition. I’m just sorry that the fans can’t come in.”
With the win, Charlottesville stays unbeaten in the Jefferson District with the Region 3C playoffs coming up after the Black Knights square off with Fluvanna County Thursday. Albemarle hosts Monticello on Thursday night.
