It was just that kind of a night for Western Albemarle’s boys basketball team. And it created a big-time headache for a Louisa County team that struggled to matchup with the Warriors.
“Where he shot that ball at the volleyball line, that’s just amazing,” Louisa coach Preston Gordon said. “How do you guard that?”
Western senior Christian Pierce buried the 3-pointer from the volleyball line with just 10 seconds to play in the half to give Western an 18-point lead going into the break as the Warriors cruised 75-50 over the Lions in the Jefferson District quarterfinals.
“Coach said we were running an iso play and to be honest, I was thinking I was going to drive but he was playing off of me and I started to come up,” Pierce said. “I heard a bunch of coaches yelling no but at that point I had to shoot it. It was kind of a dumb shot but I’m glad it happened now.”
Pierce was sure it was the longest he’d hit in a game and indicated that he rarely even practices shots from that far out. Predictably, and perhaps rightfully so, head coach Darren Maynard was one of the coaches that was yelling no at his senior star.
“It wasn’t what we wanted — it was taken too soon and from too far away,” Maynard said with a smile. “But he made it. He was feeling it I guess.”
The long-range 3-pointer only slightly overshadowed another in a line of strong games from Western’s trio of scorers, Pierce, Travis Hester and Dante Crawford. Hester and Crawford went for 15 points each while Crawford notched yet another double double with 10 rebounds. Hester finished well in transition, helping the Warriors cash in on some strong defensive stands against the Lions. Pierce led the Warriors with 21 points.
“I thought all three of them played really well,” Maynard said. “They controlled things too, we didn’t have as many turnovers tonight and that was big for us.”
Xendon Cross and Ben Jackson also scored well off the bench for Western, with Cross knocking home seven and Jackson chipping in with six. Western took control of the game in the second quarter with a 7-2 run that gave the Warriors a 30-16 lead.
Louisa got a scoring punch from sophomore Brandon Welch who had 11 points and Anthony Hunter who had nine on the night. The Lions have struggled at times this season, but were forced to employ what amounts to a five-guard lineup with very few true big men on the roster. Still, the group played frenetic defense against the Warriors and showed potential for the future with juniors like Alan White, Hunter and Elijah Payne playing big roles.
“I see improvement from our feeder programs, our J.V. program has done well this year and they’re going to be the future,” Gordon said. “Those guys (the juniors) are coming in and working hard and I expect those guys to be leaders next year, to lead this group of sophomores.”
