Buckingham stops Culpeper

Buckingham County coach Brian Wilson knew that Culpeper would shoot and shoot often after scouting the Blue Devils — even if they did struggle a bit from the field in that game.

“I knew they shot a lot and I told my guys that if they shot a lot there’s a reason they do that,” Wilson said. “They were hot today.”

Good thing the Knights knew that might happen.

Culpeper buried nine 3-pointers, but a well-prepared Buckingham squad wasn’t fazed. The Group A Knights held off the hot-shooting Blue Devils and pulled out a 74-66 victory in the first round of the Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic by creating offense out of a solid defensive effort.

D.J. Jones led the Knights’ attack with a 35-point performance, hit-ting 12 field goals, including one 3-pointer, and 10 of his 15 free-throw at-tempts. Jones, who surpassed the career 1,000-point barrier earlier this season also took a more aggressive tack against Group AAA Culpeper, attempting to dunk on a Blue Devils defender during a fast break.

“He’s a leaper, and he’s finally starting to get that little bit of aggressiveness going,” Wilson said. “He showed that tonight.”

Taylor Boyers, a 6-foot-3 junior, gave Jones some help by pouring in 23 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The contest sets up an interesting matchup in the second round of the Classic, as Wilson, a former Albemarle assistant, takes on the Patriots at Charlottesville’s gym. Wilson served under current Albemarle head coach Greg Maynard for a number of years.