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Western’s fast start sinks William Monroe

As Western Albemarle’s resident defensive stopper, senior Cody Davis is often an afterthought for opposing defenses, particularly with the array of offensive weapons the Warriors regularly rely on.

For at least a night, he couldn’t be ignored.

Davis buried a pair of wide open 3-pointers during an incredible 19-2 run by Western that started a 73-50 win over Monroe Friday night.

“He’s really been shooting it well in practice so we’ve had some confidence in him,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “We haven’t cringed when he’s putting them up here recently.”

Davis hit a pair of threes against Goochland earlier in the week too. And, Davis, who’s rarely been accused of being bashful, is starting to let his teammates like Dante Crawford know that he’s got the hot hand.

“Now that he’s hitting them in games he is,” Crawford said.

But outside of Davis’ 3-point outburst — which he coupled with five assists for one of his best offensive games ever — Jake Nidiffer and Dante Crawford got the job done underneath for the Warriors. The post tandem made Monroe pay for employing a triangle-and-two defense against Travis Hester and Christian Pierce, with Nidiffer scoring 12 points to go with six boards while Crawford scored 13 and hauled in seven rebounds.

Nidiffer hit a tough reverse lay-in against the Dragons during the early explosion that gave Western a big boost.

“He’s sort of an X-factor for us, he’s always energetic and always does some good things on defense and on the boards, and tonight he gave us some offense too,” Maynard said.

Despite drawing the defensive focus of a Monroe squad that took the floor without head coach Mike Maynard because of a one-game suspension stemming from a double technical against Fluvanna earlier this week, Pierce finished with 16 points to lead Western.

Monroe got a big effort from Desmon Shaver, who poured in 16 points to lead the Dragons, and Markees Towles and Markel Faulkner tallied 10 points each. Monroe recovered well after the early Western onslaught, not allowing the Warriors to blow up in the second half and keeping the game within 20 almost the entire way.

“We definitely came out very flat,” said Monroe assistant Nathan Kibler. “I told the kids after the game it’s pretty obvious how much Coach Maynard means to this program. But they’re a very good team and they came out hot and pretty much never looked back.”

It was no easy task for Kibler and the rest of the Monroe staff, including athletic director Katie Brunelle, who sat on the bench, being thrown into a hostile Western environment against a team that has been red-hot of late, winning seven in a row. The fact that Kibler, assistant Steve Johnson and the Dragons’ captains was able to get the team dominated by juniors settled in after the incredible Western start was an impressive feat in and of itself.

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