Patriots rout Knights

With an extremely young Group A team squaring off against a Group AAA team with both size and talent, Monday’s The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic semifinal game between Albemarle and Buckingham County had all the makings of David and Goliath matchup.

“We know we can play with them.” said Knights coach Brian Wilson.  “We came out playing physical, but our best shooter [D.J. Jones] picked up two fouls, our guys in the post picked up two fouls. That changed the complexity of the game.”

Buckingham was able to roll with the punches for the first quarter, but in the second and third quarters Albemarle flexed their muscle to move on to tonight’s championship game against Spotswood after dispatching the Knights 84-59.

“I wasn’t pleased with our defense in the first quarter,” said Albemarle coach Greg Maynard. “But we were able to pick things up in the second and third quarters.”

Cameron Anderson led the way for the Patriots with his 24 points. The junior center was a force to be reckoned with in the paint, and he showed off his athleticism a number of times on some flashy dunks and alley-oops.

“We’re trying to get out up tempo more and get some baskets in transition,” Maynard said. “That’s something we didn’t do last week against Monticello and some district opponents.  It gets the team fired up.  It gets them playing better defense.”

Before taking the court, the Patriots watched Spotswood squeak out a win against Charlottesville. After watching the Blazers, Maynard knows his team will have its work cut out trying to stop the Blazers’ guard duo of Marlon Organ and Michael Glover.

“Spotswood’s a very good team and we’ve got our hands full with them,” Maynard said. “That’s two of best guards I’ve seen all year, and I’ve seen some good AAA teams.”

With a 20-point lead in the second half, Maynard played his entire bench. After playing in a lot of tight games, the coach was happy to give some minutes to the younger talent on the team.

“They work so hard in practice,” Maynard said of his bench. “They don’t get a lot of rewards come game night.  And tonight they got the opportunity and played well.  They showed me that they’re learning the things we’re trying to teach them in practice.”

Jones, the Knights’ lone returning starter from last season, had 17 points. 

Buckingham begins James River District play next week and is hoping for similar results to last year’s state semifinal run.

“When we get to district play, we know what’s expected of us,” Wilson said.  “We expect to run through the district, play as hard as we can, and pick up some wins that we know that we can get.”