MADISON – It looked like just another regular season game. Last year the Madison County basketball team was rarely tested before the postseason began, and it didn’t look like much had changed this year.
But after going up by 19 points in the middle of the second half, the Mountaineers found themselves in a fight against Fluvanna County. The Flucos stormed back from the double-digit deficit in the second half and got to within two points of the lead in the middle of the fourth quarter, but behind late baskets from A.J. Butler, Jerel Carter and free throws from Casey Campbell, the Mountaineers were able to hold on at home, 64-56.
“That was great to see our team pull out a close game,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “I think close games like that build character, and I know that sounds funny because we’re a senior laden team, but we didn’t have many close games last year. So I think this will be good for us. We know what we can expect out of everybody in that situation.”
Once the Mountaineers jumped out to a 13-3 run to start the game, it was almost assumed by all that the game was in hand. With scouts from Eastern Mennonite University and Bridgewater College in attendence, Madison senior forward David Falk put a on show in the first half, scoring 14 points and hauling in five rebounds in the first 16 minutes of play.
But in the second half, the Flucos tweaked their one-three-one zone defense to zero-in on Falk and Logan Terrell, both of whom were having their way at the bottom of the court.
“We had a lot success early against their one-three-one but then they dropped it down a little bit lower and made it a little bit tougher,” Breeden said. “It looked like they were trying to double up in the post.”
YaYa Anderson scored nine of Fluvanna’s first ten points, but when the sophomore point guard’s teammates D.J. Burton and Damien Harris got warmed up, the Flucos began their surge on Madison lead.
“You know this is the second straight game we’ve stunk in the first half and the second straight game we’ve had to fight like crazy to get back into the game,” said Flucos coach Monroe Rateau. “And that’s just our inexperience. Yaya is the only kid who started for us last year.”
Facing a 14-point hole to being the third quarter, the Fluvanna shooters went to work from either the 3-point line or a couple of feet infront of it. When the Mountaineers went to defend the shot, the Flucos were able to work the ball inside with Anderson, who had a pair of highly acrobatic attacks to the basket.
“The break down was defensive,” Carter said. “We just gambled too much on defense, gave up and (Fluvanna) started to hit big shots.”
By the beginning of the fourth quarter the Mountaineer lead was down to 10. Four minutes later, the Flucos were within a basket, and there was a collective sigh of relief by Madison’s home crowd when Anderson took a 3-point shot that would have given Fluvanna the lead and it just missed and fell into the hands of Madison’s A.J. Butler, who immediately pushed the ball up court. With one defender running back, Butler was able to find an open Carter who hit a layup.
“When A.J. hit me with the pass for the layup I felt like we really needed that to put us over the top,” Carter said.
Madison held its composure for the last four minutes of the game, hitting their free throws and not giving Fluvanna an easy looks at the basket, securing the win in the process.
“We just had to refocus,” Breeden said. “Our guys know what they need to do, it’s just a matter of them making better decisions and they did.”
The loss stings for Fluvanna, as they outscored the Mountaineers 36-30 in the second half, but ultimately couldn’t overcome the double-digit margin built in the first half.
“I thought we did a great job in that second half,” Rateau said. “But we’ve got to learn how to play a 32-minute game.”
For Fluvanna, Anderson led all scorers with his 22 points while Harris chipped in nine.
Carter, Falk and Terrell all finished in double figures. Carter led with 17 points with Falk and Terrell just behind at 16 and 14 respectively. The big three also combined for 20 rebounds with Falk leading the way with eight.
The Flucos (1-1) will travel to Buckingham County on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Madison (3-0) will also hit the road Friday as they head to Luray at 7:30 p.m.
