Playing for the second time in five days, Louisa County and Charlottesville put on another show. While the previous two battles came down the final seconds, this one did not. And yet, that did not make it any less exciting. The Black Knights put on an amazing offensive performance in the first half to build a double-digit lead. The Lions withstood it, got things rolling on their end in the second half and pulled off what ultimately was a 31-point differential when the final buzzer sounded in an 85-66 victory in the Jefferson District semifinals.
“When you’re down double digits and you still feel pretty good about how you’re playing defense, it’s kind of unique,” said Louisa coach Robert Shelton. “Eventually we got the rebounds, got things going in transition and took advantage of it. That was the difference.”
There was plenty of back-and-forth to start the first quarter but when Charlottesville’s Zymir Faulkner got hot, he could not and did not miss. With the Black Knights getting solid defense from Isaiah Washington, Nic Motley and Lewis Tate, Faulkner took the reigns offensively and hit a slew of 3-pointers, attacked the basket, and got to the free throw line. All that led to Charlottesville taking a 43-28 lead and quieting a large home crowd.
“We were playing solid defense and Zymir was just hitting everything,” Shelton said. “ I told the guys during timeouts, this guy is hitting spins, fade-aways and he obviously was knocking down any open shot he had — just stick to playing the same defense and things should change in the second. We just had to be ready for the rebounds when all those shots stopped falling.”
Louisa’s big run started before the break with a pair of back-to-back baskets from Jarrett Hunter along with a pair of free throws to make it 46-34 at the break. It was the prologue for a second half that was nothing short of explosive for the Lions.
Chris Shelton had 17 second half points, and a 3-pointer with 4:30 in the third cut the deficit to eight points. Then it was the work inside from Isaac Haywood pacing the lions. After Shelton hit his next shot from beyond the arc, the Lions had a 52-50 lead with 2:03 left in the third.
“It was just electric,” Chris Shelton said. “We talked about it, the seniors, in the lockerroom. This is the for the right to play in the last district game. It’s tournament time. It’s time to step up. We came out in the second ready to give it all we had.”
Both teams traded leads to end the third and open the fourth, but Shelton made it 61-55 in the first two minutes of fourth and started another big run. For the leading scorer in the JD, the difference in offensive output from a week ago against this same Black Knights defense came down to studying.
“I watched the film and saw how they were defending me and really it was simple, use your skill, attack the basket and everything will change,” Shelton said. “Basketball can be simple like that. You see how they defend you on certain plays and you use that skill.”
Baskets from Mark Carter, Xavien Hunter and free throws from Shyleek Washington made it 69-59 for the Lions with 4:46 to go. Then just 20 seconds later Shelton completed a 4-point play after he was fouled on a 3-pointer. Up 73-61 at that point, the Lions stood behind their defense and finished the job.
“We had so many people come out and support us tonight and so you have to do it for them but then also for us as a team,” Chris Shelton said. “We work so hard to get here and now we are.”
The Lions got a team best 26 points out of Chris Shelton. Jarrett Hunter had 13 points with 10 coming in the first half. Haywood had 11 points with 10 coming in the third alone. Washington chipped in 10 points.
For Charlottesville, Faulkner led all scorers with 28 points and 16 of those coming in the first half. Motley had 10 points while Khishon Gray added nine.
“I think it all boils down to that we weren’t the same team that we were in the first half,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “They came out with an intensity in the second and we didn’t match it. We had it in the first half but it just wasn’t there in the second. They out-rebounded us by far this time around and they got to the line a lot more than they did last week and so that was big too.”
Louisa will face Albemarle in third meeting between the two in the JD championship game on Tuesday at 7:30 in Mineral. The Lions won the previous two meetings by a combined 25 points.
Charlottesville will get a bit of a rest before opening the Region D tournament with Salem on Friday.
“This should help us because Salem doesn’t have the same size as Louisa but they’ve got athletes like Louisa,” Minor said. “We’ll look at more tape and we’re excited about playing a team like us that likes to trap.”
