It’s a fine example of a final score being slightly misleading. By virtue of going on a complete tear to finish the game, the scoreboard read like any other that Fluvanna County has posted so far this year – a 71-55 victory over Prince Edward in the Flucos’ Christmas Bash. Yet early in the fourth Fluvanna was in a predicament they haven’t quite seen this year, trailing in the final frame.
“That was good experience for us,” said Fluvanna coach Munro Rateau. “We hadn’t played anyone yet that’s trapped us like that. Once we figured out what we were supposed to do against it we were able to get some layups out of it.”
Down by three points a little less than halfway through the final frame, the Flucos simply exploded. YaYa Anderson, T.J. Dudley and Josh Hinkle all flew down the court and put in one layup after another – something the team struggled with for the first three quarters. Fluvanna began to make quick work of the Eagles’ trap and by the time the final buzzer sounded, the game was over and the Flucos had scored 24 of the last 27 points to win by a comfortable margin.
“We were playing lazy the whole game,” Anderson said. “It was all about getting that high intensity. Coach was telling us that during the half — that if we don’t start playing hard we were going to lose this game. So we had to come out with that high intensity and that’s what we did.”
Fluvanna started off hot too. Just two minutes into the game Anderson and Hinkle scored the first seven points of the contest, and went into the second quarter with a five point lead. That was where things broke down though as Prince Edward filled the passing lanes and forced a handful of turnovers. Factor in another handful of missed layups and rough night at the free throw line and suddenly the Eagles had the game tied just before halftime.
Up by two points to start the third quarter, the Flucos reestablished their lead, going up by seven points. Once again though, the Eagles refused to go away. In the final minute of the third they started to chip away at the lead. Between then and the middle of the fourth a 10-3 run led by guard Stephon Evans to take the three point lead.
However, Fluvanna did not panic. With a shift defensively the Flucos were able to essentially shut down Prince Edward in the final four minutes.
“I thought the difference in the game was that we switched defenses on them,” Rateau said. “It’s the first time we’ve played that zone all year.”
The move turned up the tempo, and those defensive stops quickly turned into points as Rateau’s bunch pushed the ball down the court and started to finish underneath on a consistent basis. When Anderson wasn’t penetrating, Dudley and Hinkle were open underneath and all three had their way down the stretch to lead the Flucos to the win.
“Myself, I just love contact,” Dudley said. “It’s the football player in me. I like to get in there and get physical.”
Anderson had a game high 24 points and also had seven rebounds and nine assists. Dudley put up 14 points and also had seven rebounds. Hinkle finished with 11. Jamal Tolliver had six points on a pair of 3-pointers.
For Prince Edward, Evans had a team best 16 points. Darius Ford and Raheem Smith had 12 and 10 respective points.
Fluvanna (8-0) hosts Spotsylvania in the third meeting between the two today at 7:30 p.m.
