Boys top Group A poll with win against Altavista

Laura Clark / Nelson County Times
Published: January 23, 2008

"We've been practicing for this game forever," forward Cameron Coles said. "We beat them this time, but they're a good team. They didn't have size, but they had speed."

Altavista chose not to start a race with the equally small and fast Nelson team. Instead, coach Mike Cartolaro slowed the tempo to a crawl and had his players swinging the ball around the perimeter, trying to catch Nelson off-guard with back-door cuts.

Derrish Hunt put Altavista up 5-0, sneaking to the basket for a layup and hitting the subsequent foul shot. Nelson County got their first points of the game off two fast breaks, but it was an uncharacteristic start for a Gov team that averages 65 points a game. The first quarter's score was 4-5 Altavista.

Nelson took the lead in the second quarter when Thomas Brown hit his only three of the game. Sophomore Mike Poindexter led the Colonels by pulling down rebounds at both ends of the floor, but Nelson had begun to establish their offensive rhythm and carried a lead into the second half.

Both teams played fast and tight through the third quarter. Nelson took a five point lead when Coles fed Brown a defensive rebound and Brown took the ball all the way in for a layup. Then T.J. Martin stole an inbounds pass for an easy bucket.

The game was tied at 39 halfway through the fourth quarter. Altavista held the ball, all but pausing the game. Trevor Martin shut down Poindexter in the paint, and Mike Jones guarded the ball handler.

Altavista had two contested shots, but neither fell and Brown grabbed the rebound to go into overtime.

"Their offense was the type of offense where they want you to get bored, go after the steal," Brown said. "We kind of played the same tempo with them, because we can play both ways. They're a really well-disciplined team, and we tried to be disciplined with them."

With the score still tied and 37 seconds remaining in overtime, Chris Jones was fouled underneath the basket. He hit them both.

Then Hunt put up three that hit the side of the backboard, turning it over to the Govs. Brown was fouled with three seconds left, and hit both his shots to put the game beyond reach.

Nelson shot 81 percent from the free throw line to defeat Altavista. Before Jan. 15, Nelson was 60 percent from the line. Chris Jones was 4-4, and Brown hit 7-8, including two that tied the game at 39.

"I think it's a big boost of confidence," Gov coach Brandon Garrett said. "We knew if we'd get over this hump, we could beat anybody if we put our minds to it and played hard."

Altavista and Nelson entered the game as the top two Dogwood District teams. With the wins against Altavista (10-2, 4-1) and at Appomattox on Jan. 18, Nelson is undefeated at 14-0 overall and 5-0 in the district.

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