BOYS BASKETBALL: Cross-town madness

Wednesday’s showdown at Eastern View had everything you would expect from a cross-town rivalry game.

Student sections hurled chants across the court like hand grenades. P.J. White and Devonte Deans roared at the crowd after stuffing shots, White and Henry Butler brought the fans to their feet with slam dunks and Deans, on a dream and a prayer, even hit a buzzer beater from just across the half-court line.

“It was awesome,” EVHS head coach Donald O’Meara said Thursday. “Both teams came out and played at a high level. A lot of the time it looked like a wrestling match, with four or five guys going to the floor after the ball.”

“The atmosphere was great, and I knew they were going to come out and play their best game,” CCHS head coach James Thompson said. “That was probably the biggest crowd they’ve played in front of, and I knew they would have a lot of energy.”

The stands were packed at Eastern View for the game Culpeper held on to win, 64-58, but Thompson credited his team’s composure to his players’ experience playing in front of large crowds last season during the Region-I and Group-AA state tournaments and the Daily Progress holiday tournament.

“We knew what to expect,” Thompson said. “If you haven’t played in those types of atmospheres, you can find yourself looking like a deer in the headlights.”

One possession is all that separated the rivals just about all night, and both teams put up pretty impressive numbers, but two stats really jump out of the box score: Free throw attempts and turnovers.

The Blue Devils (8-7 overall, 5-2 Battlefield) made 37 trips to the charity stripe Wednesday, while the Cyclones (4-11, 2-5) only made 14.

O’Meara credits much of the disparity in foul calls to what he described as “lopsided officiating.”

“I felt like both teams were equally as aggressive, but they [the Blue Devils] went to the line a lot more,” he said.

Thompson disagreed, saying the Cyclones’ guards opted to play from the perimeter, while his attacked the lane at every opportunity.

“We attacked way more,” Thompson said. “Nik [Stewart], Henry [Butler] and Mike [Kenney] were going at them [the Cyclones] and putting the pressure on the officials to make the call.”

There was a pretty large disparity in turnovers Wednesday night, too, with Eastern View coughing it up 26 times and Culpeper just 14.

“If we only turned it over 14 or 15 times like normal, I think we win the game easy,” O’Meara said.

“Turnovers are huge because they mean you didn’t even have a chance at the basket,” Thompson added. “I could stand here with my eyes close and throw the ball towards the basket and have a 50-50 chance at making it, but if you turn it over you have zero chance.”

Team totals aside, Wednesday’s game was highlighted by some pretty impressive individual performances.

For Culpeper, Stewart flew all over the floor, finishing with 20 points, eight steals and five assists, while Deans racked up another double-double — 15 points and 11 rebounds — and three blocked shots.

For the Cyclones, White continued his stellar season with 21 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks. Teammate Ben Safren had his best game of the season, finishing with 21 points and draining four 3-pointers.

“P.J. is our motor. When he’s having a great game, we’re usually winning,” O’Meara said. “Ben has been capable all year, and it’s exciting to see him have a coming out game like that.”

For the Cyclones, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire tonight as they hit the road to face Battlefield District leading James Monroe. The Blue Devils host district foe Courtland.