On most nights, Desmon Shaver probably wouldn’t be all too happy with just three field goals, but going 19 for 19 from the free throw line easily fixed that problem.
Between the William Monroe senior’s clutch shooting down the stretch, his teammate Markel Faulkner’s play down low and the perimeter shooting of guard Jordan Gentry in the first half, the Greene Dragons had a big night offensively. Although they nearly watched a big third quarter lead slip away in the final minutes of play on the road against Western Albemarle, cooler heads prevailed as Monroe opened up its Jefferson District slate with a 78-74 win over the Warriors.
“We didn’t play too smart at the end by letting them back into it when we kept fouling them — Western Albemarle is always going to make free throws,” said Monroe coach Mike Maynard. “I am really proud of the group though, especially with Desmon and Markel for trusting the other shooters. We shot the ball very well tonight and that’s something we’ve been doing in practice. I was curious to see how our kids would react tonight in an environment like this.”
Maynard’s bunch was up by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, but Monroe’s comfortable lead slowly slipped away when Western’s Jahvon Shelton and Will Donnelly came off the bench and created turnovers and started piling up points.
But after getting to as close as four points in the final two minutes of play, two straight turnovers and a fistful of Shaver free throws spelled the end for Western.
“Last year I felt like we didn’t keep our composure, we’d just get mad,” Shaver said. “We lost a lot games that we could have had. But right now I feel like we’re sticking together like a family. We can win games this year. We don’t want to underachieve like we did last year.”
Monroe went on a 3-point shooting tear in the first half as eight of their first 10 field goals came from beyond the arc with Gentry pointing the way by hitting six trifectors.
“We knew it was going to be on in the gym,” Gentry said. “Today I feel like we actually played as a team. I’ve never seen us play like that before. We did a lot of passing and it was a great game. I couldn’t ask for better teammates.”
With Monroe up 10 to start the second half, the Warriors refused to give the Dragons junior any more open looks, and that immediately opened up the middle for Markel Faulkner. The Monroe big man found his way in the paint but was also key in breaking the Western press, often bringing the ball up the court himself.
From start to finish Shaver attacked the basket, starting outside the key on the dribble and slashing through defenders on the way in. The Warriors defense refused to allow Shaver an easy path, and as a result, the Monroe star piled up free throws from the first minute of play until the last, and he hit each and every one of them.
For Western, the game plan coming in was to try and clamp down on Shaver, Faulkner and Gentry, but executing the plan didn’t come to fruition the way Warriors coach Darren Maynard had hoped.
“We told our kids in the scouting report, the three players we wanted to focus on where Shaver, Faulkner and Gentry and they still got us,” Maynard said. “That’s disappointing because we’re so young that we weren’t able to process what was taught. But we’re going to get working on that.”
Western mounted two sizeable comebacks in the game, first after allowing Monroe bust open the game with a 15-2 run in the first quarter and then again late in the fourth. In both cases the Warriors were able to get to the free throw line and hit almost every attempt, allowing them to get as close as four points from the lead.
While Maynard was pleased with the late effort, the overall product left him feeling a little short.
“I thought the one stretch late in the third and early in the fourth our effort was finally where it needed to be,” Maynard said. “We actually still had a chance to win the game by cutting it to four. But other than that, our effort was far inferior to theirs. I’ve got to take my hat off to them, they played way harder than we did, way better than we did. William Monroe is a very impressive basketball team right now.”
For Monroe, Shaver finished with 26 points and seven rebounds. Faulkner had 20 points and nine rebounds. Gentry had 18 points.
Donnelly led Western with 18 points and three steals. Shelton put in 13 points. Ben Turner finished with 14 points. Christian Asher led the team with seven rebounds.
Both teams will be back in action on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Monroe hosts Monticello while Western heads to Charlottesville.
