It’s going to look a little different going forward, but the Albemarle boys basketball team has put itself in at least the same position as it did last year — getting a chance to play on the Group 5A tournament stage.
The Patriots were tested a little bit early but behind a run that started at the end of the first and carried over well into the third, Albemarle rolled past Stone Bridge, 81-46, in the Region 5A North quarterfinals.
“They threw us off a little bit with a triangle and two early on,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “Practicing against it and seeing it in a real game, realizing which shots you should take and which you should turn down, that’s a little different. We made an adjustment by just going at them.”
J’Quan Anderson had eight of his nine points in the first and got all of them in the paint and at the free throw line. Albemarle and Stone Bridge were locked in step at 11-11 late in the first quarter, but with an 8-3 sprint to close the frame, the Patriots went into the second simply barreling their way through the Bulldogs defense.
“I play football so getting beat up like that (in the paint) is normal,” Anderson said. “I’ll do anything for my team and now that we’re going to states together, it’s just a really good feeling.”
From there, Albemarle got a Na’il Arnold 3-pointer and Austin Katstra dunk to open up the second to make it 24-14.
“In the huddle coach told us not to hesitate, to just shoot,” Arnold said. “We were just knocking them down.”
The Patriots never looked back. Jake Hahn got going offensively with six of his 16 coming in the second. Up 37-21 at the break, Albemarle continued the onslaught with Katstra scoring 11 of his 22 in the third quarter as Stone Bridge was simply worn down from the Patriots’ assault underneath the basket.
“We hit the boards hard and once we got some stops on this end, we got in our transition game and it didn’t matter what defense they were playing,” Maynard said.
With the game out of reach at 63-34 going into the fourth, Albemarle was able to burn through the final quarter with its bench.
On the night, Katstra led all scorers with 22 and Hahn also finished in double figures with 16. Anderson and Maxx Jarmen both finished with nine points. Arnold and KaySean Allen each chipped in eight points. In all, eight of the 12 players on the Patriots roster registered at least two field goals.
Albemarle (22-2) will host Wakefield (20-4) on Thursday at 7 p.m. The win over Stone Bridge locked up a Group 5A tournament bid for the second straight season for Albemarle.
“We want to the best we can in the rest of this (Region 5A) tournament too because there are good teams ahead,” Maynard said. “The competition we’ll see in the next games ahead? I think we have seven of the top eight ranked teams in 5A in the tournament right now.”
