Devils get stung

It took overtime for James Monroe to pull out a victory in its last contest against Culpeper, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday night on the Blue Devils’ home court.

Despite a combined 55 points from Culpeper’s duo of Josh Majors and Bobby Zajkowski, the Jackets came away with a 94-76 victory against their future Battlefield District foe.

“We came out and executed tonight,” JM coach Antonio Coghill said. “We played defense, ran well and took better shots than we did last time we played Culpeper.”

Zajkowski got the Blue Devils off on the right foot by draining one of his seven three-pointers in the opening minutes of the game. The sophomore led all scorers with 34 points, while Majors — a freshman — added 21 points, 15 of which came from three-point range.

“It’s surprising to people that they (Majors and Zajkowski) are scoring so much because they’re so young,” CCHS coach James Thompson said. “It’s not surprising to me, though. Those boys led in attendance at all our preseason workouts, and they have chemistry.”

Zajkowski fired the first volley, but it didn’t take the Jackets (4-4) long to respond. They went on a 10-0 run that didn’t end until Zajkowski got the Blue Devils back on the scoreboard with another three-pointer.

Junior Greg Edwards led the Jackets with 17 points and six rebounds, while junior Farkeem French and sophomore DeQuan Lucas both added 13 points and five rebounds.

“Any time you have guys that can score every night it’s a good thing,” Coghill said. “That makes it tough on the defense to key on one guy.”

The Blue Devils (0-11) went into the locker room at halftime trailing by 21 points, but they weren’t about to roll over and die.

Majors got hot from beyond the arch in the second half, draining all five of his three-pointers in the final two quarters. He connected on a deep ball from the top of the arch with 2:29 left in the third, before stealing the ball on the ensuing possession and firing a quick pass to Zajkowski who cut into the Jackets’ lead with a layup.

“We have to play a game within the game,” Thompson said. “We’re playing in stretches right now. The way I tried to keep it positive was that we won the second half, but there’s still a lot of coaching to be done.”

Rebounding was an issue for Culpeper Wednesday night. The Jackets had five players that pulled down at least five boards, while the only Blue Devil to accomplish that was junior Cortez Rollins, who finished with six points and five rebounds.

Thompson knows his players are going to have to improve in the paint if they hope to secure their first win Friday night when they hit the road for a game against Cedar Run District foe Loudon Valley.

“There are five facets to basketball: Passing, dribbling, shooting, rebounding and defending,” he said. “You’ve got to win at least three out of the five if you’re even going to have a chance to win.”
JV squeaks out a win

Culpeper’s JV squad earned its second victory of the season with a 63-60 win over James Monroe.

Jamie Banks led the Blue Devils (2-6) with 15 points, while both Andray White and DaVonte Deans added 14 points.