Hunter ends JD career in style

It turns out Quintin Hunter had one more trick in his bag for the Jefferson District.

With less than eight seconds left on the clock against Western Albemarle and the score deadlocked, the Orange County senior raced down court and drove the lane.

“I saw the lane open up, and before I knew it, I was so close to the rim,” Hunter said.

That’s when Hunter elevated to try and create a shot as the entire Western defense seemed to collapse around him and drew a foul with less than a second on the clock. Hunter buried the first of two ensuing foul shots, and after a D.J. Brown interception on Western’s inbounds pass, Orange celebrated another Jefferson District tournament crown with a 54-53 victory.

It seemed appropriate that Brown held the ball last — the senior forward had carried the Hornets during a third quarter where Hunter, saddled with three personal fouls, never saw the floor. Brown finished with 15 points, the majority of which came during the second half, but it was his dunk off a Tyler Seal assist in the early stages of the fourth quarter that changed the momentum of the game.

“We have this drill in practice where we hit him with pads and he dunks on me all time,” said Orange coach Keyode Rogers. “We’ve been waiting on that all year — right time, right game, right stage.”

The dunk kickstarted a fourth quarter that saw three ties and four lead changes as the squads battled back and forth.

Ryan Hughes came up with a critical bucket for Western just before Hunter’s heroics. The senior point guard came up with an offensive rebound on an errant shot, tallied the bucket to tie the game at 53-53 and drew a foul. A jump ball on the rebound attempt after the missed free throw went Orange’s way and set up Hunter’s sprint.

“We were trying to keep Quintin from getting the ball and we didn’t do a good job of that,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “It’s unfortunate that you get a call there because at that point you want the kids to decide it — both teams deserved that.”

Western saw its seven-point halftime lead dwindle during the third frame despite Hunter being on the bench and a 21-point effort from Christian Pierce. During that stretch, the Warriors just couldn’t find an answer for Brown during that stretch. The senior hit a pair of back-to-back threes near the end of the third that pulled Orange within a bucket.

The Warriors have lost at least four games in the closing seconds this season, including a loss to Monticello, R.E. Lee and Orange a little more than a week ago on the road.

Both squads will play in their respective Region II tournaments, Western in Division 3 and Orange in Division 4. The Warriors appear likely to host William Monroe, while the Hornets await results from the Dulles District title game set to be played today.