Shaver’s shot lifts Monroe to victory

Sophomore Desmon Shaver was, at best, the third player who was supposed to touch the ball on William Monroe’s final possession. But when Shaver finally got his hands on the ball — the second time — it worked out perfectly for the Dragons in a 53-51 victory over Western Albemarle in the Region II, Division 3 quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

“We wanted to try to get the ball to [Mike] Roach on the inbounds,” said Monroe coach Mike Maynard. “I told them, ‘If we get it in to anybody but Roach let’s give it back to Markees [Towles], let’s spread the court and Markees, you play basketball.’”

After Towles drove to the basket and missed a circus layup attempt, Shaver hauled in the rebound and quickly leapt back up and missed a short shot. But he immediately grabbed his own miss and knocked it in as the final buzzer sounded.

“I just wanted to put it back up,” Shaver said. “I knew they wouldn’t call a foul because of the situation, but I wanted to put it up and maybe it’d go in.”

The Monroe loss was the latest in a string of devastating late losses for the Warriors dating back to an early season defeat at the hands of R.E. Lee and continuing through last Friday’s narrow loss to Orange County in the Jefferson District tournament championship.

“We just have no luck at the end of games, and sometimes we haven’t made our luck very well either,” said Western coach Darren Maynard. “I actually had the thought there with 14 seconds [that we should] foul just so we could have the last possession because every time we haven’t had the last possession, it’s turned out wrong.”

It was also the fourth game between Monroe and Western, a series that ends in a split for the schools.

Shaver finished with 17 points to lead the Dragons, including a trio of 3-pointers. But it was his classmate, Towles, who may have had the most impact on the game from the opening tip. The sophomore guard came to Mike Maynard during practice and asked for the opportunity to guard Western star and first-team all-Jefferson District honoree Christian Pierce.

“Markees asked to guard him — he said, ‘Coach, I was out here when [Orange star Quintin Hunter] guarded him the other night and I want to guard Christian Pierce,’” Maynard said. “And anytime a kid asks you if he can guard someone, you’re going to give him a shot.”

Towles, who also had seven rebounds, helped limit the junior to 12 points as part of Monroe’s triangle-and-two defense that forced the Warriors to find offense outside Pierce and Travis Washington (13 points). Dante Crawford played well with 14 points and six rebounds, but no one else on the Western roster scored more than four points.

That opened the door for Monroe’s late win — not that the Dragons didn’t have their own struggles. Mike Wims had just four points while battling foul trouble throughout most of the game, and Andy Brown struggled in the waning seconds at the free-throw line. But Brown was solid in stretches on the defensive end against Washington, who hit three clutch free-throws to tie the game at 51 just before the winning possession.

Roach, the district player of the year, was strong as well, with 15 points and three steals.

The Warriors opened the second half with an 11-0 after trailing by six at the break, but Monroe answered with a quick 6-0 run of their own to prevent Western from taking control. The low-scoring, back-and-forth tilt was largely a product of the two squads’ in-depth knowledge of one another, which was frustrating for Western coach Darren Maynard in a Region II playoff game.

“I think this whole situation was kind of unfair to our kids and William Monroe’s kids that we’re matched right back up in the regional,” he said. “It’s almost like we weren’t even in the regional, it’s just another district game. I think that was sort of a disservice to both teams and I would’ve felt like that if we won.”

The Dragons will head north Thursday to take on Dominion High and junior star Deandre Albritton in the Region II semifinals. A win there would put the Dragons into the state quarterfinals.