Fluco bench during the game on Jan. 9.
“We never got where we wanted to on offense. We didn’t get the shots we wanted to in our halfcourt offense. I’m really proud at the effort we made to get back into the game and go into overtime,” said FCHS head coach Munro Rateau.
Vinny Agee made a basket with 2:48 seconds left in the third quarter. That was the last basket the Flucos would make. The final 14:38 of the game, FCHS would not make one basket.
The plus side of the equation was Fluvanna made 20 of 22 free throws during the span. In fact, the boys in blue shot 20 times from the stripe in the fourth quarter.
Charlottesville held a 55-52 lead with just over two minutes to go. A foul on Jalen Harrison then a subsequent technical on CHS allowed Harrison to make three of the four opportunities to tie it. Then on the attempted inbounds play, Dorian Butler was fouled before the ball made it in play.
Bulter made the second of two to give FCHS a 56-55 lead. It was the first Fluvanna lead since the 4:28 mark in the first quarter.
It was short lived.
Speedy Black Knight point guard Jean-Pierre Lewis converted a runner in the lane then Darius Watson hit a free throw to give CHS a 60-58 lead.
Watson missed two free throws with 14 seconds left. Harrison drove and his shot attempted rolled around the rim but didn’t give way. He made both free throws to force overtime.
The extra period was too much Black Knights and Fluvanna struggled through the scoring drought.
FCHS had only two free throws while the home squad made two baskets and Watson hit eight straight free throws to ice the game.
CHS head coach Mitch Minor said, “I think we defended them so much better than we did last time.”
Two major issues for Fluvanna were turnovers and rebounds.
The Flucos turned the ball over 26 times on the night and only grabbed 26 rebounds. Both were compounded with a 42 percent field goal percentage. The good news was FCHS shot 76 percent from the line.
“The key tonight for us to win was we would dominate the rebounding. Their little guys got in there and got the ball away from us,” said Rateau. “We had 26 turnovers. That’s a lot of points we didn’t have a chance to score.”
The Flucos were lead by Vinny Agee with 21 points. Harrison had 17 points including going 13 for 16 from the line (13-14 in the fourth quarter). Dashon Tibbs lead the team with nine rebounds while Dorian Butler six assists.
It is a quick turnaround for FCHS. Fluvanna (12-3, 3-2 Jefferson District) hosts Louisa Wednesday night. Game set for 7:30 p.m. in Palmyra.
