Charlottesville senior guard Leon Straus came into Friday night’s Jefferson District showdown at Monticello a little under-the-weather. Neither the Mustangs’ defense nor a winter cold proved capable of shutting him down, as he posted a game-high 27 points to propel the fifth-ranked Black Knights to an 85-68 win.
“In all sports, good players step up at the right times,” said Monticello coach Robert Shelton. “A few of those, we didn’t get a hand up and respect a good shooter. We turned the ball over and that turned into layups. (Straus) definitely capitalized on some of our mistakes and made some good opportunities with his aggressiveness.”
After an even start over the game’s first few minutes, Charlottesville’s defense turned on the trap midway through the first quarter. As Monticello struggled to advance the ball up court and set up its offense, the Black Knights used a 10-3 run to open a 15-7 lead. Junior Troy Hughes came off the bench to establish an inside presence and pour in six points.
“Troy has added more of an arsenal for us on the inside,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “People have trouble getting around him and he has pretty good post moves. He’s a big help to us coming off the bench.”
However, the aggressive play also put the Mustangs in the bonus with 1:04 in the first, and Monticello closed the quarter with a 6-2 run of its own.
“We didn’t do a good job of keeping people in front of us and we committed silly fouls,” said Minor. “They went to the line too many times. We can’t do that and expect to be in some games if we’re getting in foul trouble that early.”
Straus opened the second quarter with a quick three-pointer and transition dunk. He added another fast break bucket moments later as part of a 9-2 Charlottesville run. Yet, Monticello went a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line in the quarter, and used another late run of 6-1 over final two and a half minutes. The Knights went into the break up 35-27.
Straus then struck again to start the second half. Over the first 1:45, he hit a pair of threes and two fast-break lay-ups to account for all of the Knights’ points in a 10-2 run before Shelton called a full timeout.
“CHS makes you play faster than you really want to play,” said Shelton. “You’ve really got to be disciplined and run your offense. I thought at times we did a good job, which gave us opportunities shooting foul shots early. We didn’t stay aggressive and they did a good job of turning us over, and we got ourselves in a hole.”
This time, the double-digit margin held, and Charlottesville led 61-44 entering the fourth. Monticello pulled back to 76-66 after threes by Robbie Deane and Malik Barbour, prompting a 30-second timeout by Minor with 3:12 left. The Knights shut the door by converting long rebounds into buckets in a final 9-2 surge.
After Straus, three other Knights scored in double figures, including senior forward Isaiah Green (16) and Hughes (12). Junior guard Jordan Saylor tallied 10 and also pulled down numerous defensive rebounds to start fast breaks the other way. Sophomore Caleb Gage came up with several steals to go along with his nine points.
“I depend on [Saylor and Gage] so much, both to run our offense and get everybody in place, and body up defensively,” Minor said. “Both of those guys are real good defensive players.”
Junior guard Savion Thomas led Monticello with 17 points, including a perfect 11-for-11 performance at the line. Freshman forward Jayden Nixon added 12, while Deane and Barbour each posted 10.
