Down big out of the gate Thursday night against archrival Madison on the road, William Monroe’s boys basketball team needed some kind of spark after an early timeout.
“Our freshman Anthony Terry kept us in the game, he came out (of the timeout) really hot for us and that was a big boost for us,” said Monroe coach Mike Maynard.
With the Dragons down by eight, Terry got going and helped Monroe steady the ship en route to a 61-55 victory over Madison County.
Terry hit a pair of late first quarter 3-pointers as part of a 10-point first half and gave Monroe just enough offense while senior Austin Batten tried to get going. Batten carried the load after halftime with a trio of 3-pointers that ignited an 18-point performance by the guard. Monroe maintained a five-point advantage most of the second half against Madison, but struggled to put the young Mountaineers away and never found that decisive run to put the game completely out of reach.
“It’s a hard part of coaching to make sure you’ve got these 15 through 18 year olds ready to play and I guess I didn’t do a good job because we were down 11-2 after about three minutes,” Maynard said. “I just wasn’t really happy with the effort especially early. You can’t come into the gym of your biggest rival and not give better effort.”
The game turned into a foul shooting contest late for Monroe and the Dragons were largely up to the task, hitting 12 of 20 in the fourth quarter. Monroe forward Jeff Early was particularly strong at the line with a 10 for 13 night from the charity stripe. He finished with 16 points.
It was one of the more complete efforts from a young Madison squad that has little experience on the floor beyond senior forward Matt Temple. The Mountaineers took it to the Dragons early with a balanced attack and freshman Isiah Smith running the point.
But beyond Temple’s game-high 24 points, the Mountaineers couldn’t find a consistent scorer as seven different players registered four or five points a piece. Since the injury to star senior guard Bobby Ford, the Mountaineers have skewed even younger than they were to start the season and they’ve struggled to get on track.
“That’s something that we haven’t really put together all year since Bobby’s been hurt,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “We’ve been in games for two quarters, three quarters and then one quarter we fall apart. That was big that we battled for four quarters.”
In a situation worked out ahead of time between Breeden and Maynard, Ford scored the first basket of the game on his senior night on an uncontested lay-up. He suffered a season ending knee injury earlier this year and the set-up was a chance for the senior to get in the scorebook on senior night.
“Maynard had already agreed to it and we really appreciate that,” Breeden said.
The Dragons (15-5) are locked in a fight in Division 3A’s Conference 28 to hold on to second place in the tournament’s seeding. If Monroe can beat Central Woodstock Friday night at 7:45 p.m. and George Mason can knock off Warren County the same night, the Dragons would get the No. 2 slot in Conference 28. A loss would likely mean the three seed behind Warren County despite beating Warren twice during the regular season.
Madison plays Manassas Park at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
