Charlottesville’s Maurice Jackson came up with a block. The Black Knights then forced a jump ball that went Western’s way, but followed it with a Damion Morton steal as the CHS crowd came alive and began chanting ‘defense, defense.’ Morton buried a pair of free throws coming out of the ensuing timeout.
Clearly the tide had started to turn toward the Black Knights. But just like that, things snapped back.
“I thought we kind of blew that and they extended the lead back out — we took three ill-advised shots in a row,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “We had three chances in a row to cut it under 10 but we just couldn’t finish.”
It didn’t help that Christian Pierce had already put together a virtuoso performance in the first half. Pierce finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds as the Warriors took the Division 3, Region II title 62-45 over the Black Knights Saturday night.
Pierce couldn’t seem to miss in the first half, pouring in 22 points while pulling down nine rebounds. Charlottesville simply couldn’t find an answer for the Western senior.
“I don’t think that was really the game plan going on but when you get a couple of baskets you kind of want to shoot till you miss,” Pierce said. “Today in the first quarter I never really missed that first shot.”
In turn, the Warriors held Charlottesville’s own electric scorer, Maurice Jackson, to just 12 points, though foul trouble kept the senior on the bench for long stretches. As usual, Cody Davis handled the bulk of the duties against Jackson.
“He’s definitely the hardest person you have to guard in the district,” Davis said. “You’ve always got to be in your stance and you can never take a break. That’s what he waits for, he waits for you to take a break.”
Davis rarely gave Jackson that opportunity, frustrating the senior guard, who couldn’t seem to find a groove all night.
After Morton hit his two free throws to cut what had been a 20-point lead to just 11, the two teams swapped turnovers before Charlottesville’s Daquan Jones got called for an offensive foul near the basket on an aggressive drive to the rim. That call switched the momentum back in Western’s favor, and Pierce immediately capitalized, knocking down a 3-pointer off a Dante Crawford pass. Crawford followed with a rebound and then a coast-to-coast bucket. Those two baskets kickstarted a run that extended the lead back out to 17 early in the fourth quarter, effectively ending Charlottesville’s hopes of a comeback.
Travis Hester closed out the Black Knights, pouring in 19 points with a big chunk of that performance coming in the second half. Crawford finished with eight points.
Morton led Charlottesville with 12 points while Jones had 11.
One of the game’s more exciting moments came at the buzzer with Western’s starters on the bench. The Warriors’ key players went wild when reserve sophomore guard Will Donnelly, the junior varsity’s starting point guard, buried a mid-range jumper as time expired. Crawford leapt over to the sophomore before Western lined up to shake hands, hugging the sophomore guard.
Western will take on New Kent at JMU later this week in the state quarterfinals while Charlottesville faces a familiar opponent at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Brunswick. Brunswick, coached by former UVA star Bryant Stith, knocked the Black Knights out of the playoffs two seasons ago.
