Madison rallies past Charlottesville

The Madison County boys basketball team started its season off with a bang with an impressive 66-58 road win over Charlottesville on Wednesday night. Senior Logan Terrell paced the Mountaineers scoring 18 points and pulling down five rebounds as his size in the post proved to be too much for Charlottesville.

The Black Knights looked solid in the first quarter, jumping out to an early 6-point lead that held up into the later stages of the first half. Charlottesville senior swingman Maurice Jackson was hot early, scoring 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half.

Madison answered in the third quarter, holding the Black Knights to nine points in the frame and built a 13-point lead through periods. Madison forward David Falk took advantage of Charlottesville’s lack of size, as he scored all 16 of his points in the paint, including three thunderous dunks that swung the momentum in favor of the Mountaineers.

“I thought we could handle any type of pressure that CHS was going to put on us,” said first-year Madison coach Ben Breeden. “Once we broke their press, we were able to take advantage of their lack of strength and size inside, and we kind of put them away in the second half inside.”

The Mountaineers experience proved to be pivotal also as they returned four starters from last years state semifinal team. Senior Jerel Carter scored nine points and added four rebounds, three assists and three crucial blocks in the final minutes of the contest.

“I have amazing teammates,” said Carter after the game. “Logan came up big, and Casey Campbell handled the ball extremely well throughout the whole game, and we need that all season.”

The Black Knights lost two key members of their playoff team last season in Kevin Leatherwood and Omari Minor, and most of the responsibility fell onto Maurice Jackson’s shoulders.

“We didn’t play as a team and we took some ill-advised shots,” said Charlottesville coach Mitch Minor. “We couldn’t put the ball in the hole and we shot ourselves out of the game. In the first half, we played as a team and were patient, and we were the exact opposite in the second half. I thought our defense was solid overall, and that’s a positive.”

Daquan Jones added 11 points and 6 rebounds for CHS, while Matt Garr put in 10 points, including crucial free throws down the stretch, for the Mountaineers. Charlottesville (0-1) will host Monticello on Friday night at 7:30 and Madison (1-0) will host William Monroe at the same time. The two teams will meet again on January 16th in Madison.