By Aaron Perryman/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Last year, Western Albemarle lost a heartbreaker in the Division 3 Region II quarterfinals to Jefferson District rival William Monroe, missing out on a shot to go to the state tournament.
Not so this year. The No. 1-seeded Warriors, who earned a bye to Thursday night’s semifinals, defeated No. 4 Handley 58-40 last night to earn that trip to states they missed last year.
“For us, having experienced that loss—that was just heartbreaking,” said senior guard Christian Pierce. “The seniors kind of explained to the upperclassmen how much it hurts and how much we needed to go out here and win.”
Pierce was one Warrior who made sure they were not going to be denied, scoring 23 points while grabbing seven boards.
“They switched to kind of a zone look [in the second half],” Pierce said. “When I was catching passes at the top of the key, I saw openings and my shot wasn’t feeling great at first, so I took it to the basket and got a couple easy ones down low. Once I made the lay-ups, then I got an open shot, and at that point I was feeling it.”
Western (12-4) took a 26-19 halftime lead and seemed to be in control of the game. The Judges (9-10), however, put together a five-point spurt to cut the lead to two within the first 51 seconds of the third period, with all the points coming from senior guard Mitch Smith, who poured in 11 points for the game.
“Mitch did a great job tonight,” said Handley coach Thomas Dixon. “I think there were a lot of guys who stepped up tonight and did some things…Tonight, that just wasn’t good enough.”
The Warriors called timeout and recovered, slowly built their lead back up and led 42-33 heading to the fourth quarter. Just when it looked like they were in the clear, the Judges hit a couple shots to make it 44-38 and grabbed the momentum back during the early portion of the fourth quarter.
Western coach Darren Maynard called another timeout with 5:19 left and from then on, the Warriors shut down Handley for the rest of the game. The Judges never hit another field goal, managing only two free throws down the stretch.
“We broke down twice early in the third quarter and so I fixed a couple things and got after somebody that wasn’t really giving the right kind of effort,” Maynard said. “After that, we got back to business and remembered what the game plan was on defense and started [following] it again.”
That game plan included making Handley take long shots.
“We wanted to clog the driving lanes and make them shoot from the outside,” Maynard said. “We knew they were very quick and athletic but we didn’t think they shot it all that well.”
The plan seemed to work, as Handley made only 2-of-11 shots from three-point land. Additionally, the Warriors limited senior guard Jeremiah Wilson to just 10 points. Maynard noted he put defensive stopper Cody Davis on Wilson—as usual the senior drew the most challenging defensive assignment.
The Warriors, on the other hand, went 5 for 11 from beyond the arc. After a slow start, sophomore guard Travis Hester ended up converting three of his six 3-point attempts, finishing with 19 points. Senior guard Dante Crawford gave the Judges all they could handle down low, posting a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while adding three blocks and two steals to his stat sheet.
“We’re starting to expect that out of Dante,” Pierce said. “Any time you see a missed shot offensively or defensively, you know you’re gonna see Dante down there battling. It’s fun to watch—[I’ve] been playing with him for three years and nothing ever changes. He works harder than anyone else on the court any given night and we love that about him.”
Now, the Warriors face Charlottesville for a fourth time in the region final Saturday at Orange County High School. The Black Knights defeated Kettle Run Thursday night 74-61. Charlottesville beat Western twice during the regular season by scores of 65-64 and 51-50 but then Western got revenge in the district finals 58-54.
“I think we’re ready, they’re ready—it’s just gonna come down to who plays harder, who wants it more,” Pierce said. “I kind of wouldn’t mind seeing a different team but we knew it would be them I guess.”
