Madison holds on for win

To call Saturday’s crowd for the Group A, Division 2 quarterfinals Madison County-friendly would be a gross understatement. The Mountaineer faithful made their presence felt at Monticello High, and their team didn’t disappoint as Madison held off a fourth-quarter rally from Northampton to win, 66-57.

“It was crazy,” said Mountaineers forward Logan Terrell. “To see all these people — we definitely had to give them what they came out here to see.”

The game looked all but over when the fourth quarter first began.  Madison was up comfortably when Yellow Jackets guard Darius Robinson caught fire, hitting three 3-pointers to shave the Mountaineers’ lead from 17 points to just six.

With four minutes to play, and just a pair of possessions separating the two squads, Jerel Carter took control for Madison, attacking the hoop and hitting his free throws to keep Northampton at a distance for good.

“Coach told me I had to put the team on my shoulders,” Carter said. “He said to just attack the basket because even if I miss, we’ve got rebounders.”

Terrell led the way for Madison with 19 points and nine rebounds. Carter contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

“I thought we really played well,” said Madison coach Tim Taylor. “I thought we executed well. We committed a few turnovers, but that’s to be expected. I’m pleased with this. And these kids deserve this. I don’t think anyone really knows how hard these kids work.”

The Mountaineers found themselves in a five-point hole early in the second quarter off of back to back turnovers. After Taylor called a timeout, Madison responded by going on a 14-0 run behind the post and baseline play of Terrell.

“He’s just a beast,” said Jackets coach Michael Brickhouse of Terrell. “We just didn’t have the bodies for him.”

While Northampton had its hands full with Terrell in the paint, Madison was equally occupied trying to defend Robinson, who had a game-high 27 points on seven 3-pointers.

“The first three he hit he was wide open. But the last six, he was not open,” Taylor said. “I was having visions of [Buckingham County’s] D.J. Jones. It was like the same nightmare.”

Madison came into the game with limited knowledge of the Jackets.

“Our scouting report said that [Chris Edwards] couldn’t shoot,” Taylor said.

Edwards had just two first-half points, but finished with 15, all of them on long range jumpers or 3-pointers.

“We just had to adjust on the fly,” Taylor said. “We threw everything at them — we went triangle-and-two, we went straight man, zone, half-court trap.”

The Jackets came out attacking the perimeter with great success, with Robinson hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter. But Northampton’s hot shooting hand cooled off in the second quarter, helping Madison string together its lengthy run.

Madison’s big three all had a productive first half with Terrell scoring 11 and David Falk and Carter trailing just behind with 9 and 6 respectively. The three also had 13 of the team’s first 18 rebounds.

The Mountaineers will face Dan River — a team they beat in the Region B Championship — on Thursday at the Siegel Center in Richmond in the semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m.