Charlottesville’s boys basketball team hosted Fluvanna Thursday night in a matchup between two probable Region 3C playoff participants. Thanks to some early hot shooting and some strong defense in the second half, the Black Knights prevailed 68-60.
“I always stress defense because defense wins you games,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “I tell guys you can have a bad offensive night where you can’t throw the ball in the ocean, but you should never have a bad defensive night or a lack of hustle, and I think that’s what kept us in the game.”
The Black Knights have locked down most every opponent they’ve faced this year excluding East Rockingham and even in that game Charlottesville gave the Eagles some fits. Against an explosive Fluvanna offense on short rest, Charlottesville proved up to the task.
It helped that that Black Knights got a charge from some early offense, with most of it coming from freshman Aidan Yates. Yates was on fire during the first quarter, knocking down six threes on his way to scoring 18 points in the frame. That early explosion helped him lead the team in scoring for the night with 20. Khishon Gray and Zymir Faulkner made impacts offensively as well, scoring 19 and 14 points for the game.
“I think that we were focused coming out today, we needed this momentum going into the playoffs, so everyone came out focused and ready to play,” said Yates.
That hot shooting helped the Black Knights take a comfortable 38-24 lead to the halftime break, but things didn’t stay comfortable for too long.
The Flucos used the second half to fight their way back into things, using some shooting of their own to help make it a nine-point game at the end of the third quarter. Xavier Copeland played a huge role in the comeback attempt, scoring 16 of his 17 points in the second half. Maurice D’Alessandro and Kobe Edmonds had standout performances as well, scoring 16 and 13 points in the game respectively.
In the fourth, the Flucos eventually fought their way back even closer, making it a six-point game with under a minute to play.
This was where the Black Knights knew they had to make a stand defensively.
“We had a hard time with their shooters getting open, but we stepped up and handled the job down the stretch,” said Gray.
The Charlottesville defense stepped up big time in the final minute, forcing the Flucos to miss two threes that helped put the game away. Then Faulkner stepped up to the foul line to make it an eight-point lead and put the game out of reach for good.
With the win, the Black Knights will end the regular season at 6-1, while the Flucos host Monticello Friday night before both squads enter Region 3C tournament play next week with the Black Knights slated to host and the Flucos hitting the road.
