Madison County’s Casey Campbell got just a hand on William Monroe junior guard Mitchell Morris’ dribble, but it was just enough to jar the ball free, and into the hands of Madison’s Matt Garr, who immediately started the other way down the court for a fast break.
Mountaineer senior Jerel Carter, who was ahead of Garr, gathered the forward’s pass, took a single dribble and threw down a two-handed dunk that ignited the Madison side of the gym, and silenced the home crowd. Carter followed soon after with a second slam, and the play was indicative of the difference between the two teams: experience and athleticism.
“They have a lot of athleticism,” Monroe forward Markel Faulkner said. “They have some pretty tall players, and they’ve been playing together a long time.”
Faulkner, who is just a sophomore, led all scorers with 17 points. His buckets helped keep the game close, as the Dragons closed the lead to 38-30 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But in the end, the Mountaineers pulled away following a Campbell 3-pointer and won 53-37 on Wednesday night.
“We saw they were really packing the zone in,” Madison coach Ben Breeden said. “And we thought that would give us some outside looks, for Casey, Jerel or Matt. I was hoping we would shoot the ball much better. They weren’t falling so we needed to do something; get some easy baskets.”
The player that Madison went to early in its time of need was powerful big man Logan Terrell, who finished with 16 points and proved too tough for the Dragons to match up against. Even when Monroe was able to stop him from making a basket, Terrell found his way to the line.
“They stayed in the zone, so I just had to find ways to score,” Terrell, one of Madison’s five starting seniors said. “I tried to play with my back to the basket, and just tried to take advantage of my size.”
Breeden knew that Terrell had an advantage over a smaller Monroe team, and is content to lean on him whenever outside shots aren’t falling.
“Logan is a force inside,” Breeden said. “If we need a basket that’s where we want to go. I thought he responded tonight when we needed a basket.”
As the game wore on, and Monroe was forced to contend with Terrell, outside looks opened up, and once Campbell found his stroke, the game was all but over.
“We’ve been playing together for a while.” Terrell said regarding his team’s ability to adapt. “We just know where everyone will be.”
Towards the beginning of the third quarter, after facing a 10-point halftime deficit, William Monroe junior forward Ernie Inzana showed the scrappiness that kept an undersized and young Dragon team in the game. When a rebound found its way to the floor, Inzana dove on it as several Madison defenders merely reached. Inzana was able to recover the ball, get it out to his teammates and spark a run highlighted by Faulkner’s versatility.
“Coach had us in gap, so I was at the top near the free throw line,” Faulkner said. “I was just getting the ball, penetrating and trying to get to the free throw line, if not I would just get it to one of our three point shooters, and see if we could get a jump shot.”
Despite Monroe’s game plan, getting their longest and most versatile player the ball on offense, and sinking into a 2-3 zone on defense, Madison found a way to win, and remains undefeated on the season.
