Altavista boys pull rank on West Point in Group A, Division 1

WILLIAMSBURG — Altavista junior center Jerrell Jordan guarded West Point forward Aaron Roane man-to-man in the post in Saturday’s Group A, Division 1, state quarterfinal, holding him to five points — at least 12 below his average.

That was the difference in the Colonels’ 56-44 victory at William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena.

“Jerrell on Roane was a great matchup,” Altavista coach Mike Cartolaro said. “He was really active and got out and challenged him on the perimeter and did a good job.”

“I was beating him to the spot so he wouldn’t be able to get the ball,” added Jordan, who led the Colonels (17-5) with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

As a team, Altavista used a stifling defensive effort to pull away from West Point and advance to its third Final Four in the past four seasons.

“They really scouted us,” said Pointers senior Malcolm Doyal, a Walsingham Academy transfer who paced all scorers with 25 points, eclipsing his 20-point average. “They knew our offense, so it was hard for us to get anything.”

The Colonels (17-5), appearing in their seventh state tournament in the past nine seasons, pulled rank on West Point (14-9), which was making its first state showing since 1985 after reaching the Final Four 12 times previously.

Altavista’s bench outscored the Pointers’ 11-0, led by A.J. Cartolaro, who sank 2 of 3 from 3-point range, including one from in front of the Colonels’ bench, set up by a cross-court pass, that extended the lead to 38-32.

That was moments after Roane scored the 1,000th point of his career, and first of the game, midway through the third quarter, and moments before he hurdled over press row, crashing into WKDE broadcaster Bob Alvis, entangling himself in radio equipment.

“Aaron’s been hustling for us all year,” Doyal said. “We thought that was going to change the momentum of the game, but we just didn’t have it.

“I think we got tired toward the third and fourth quarter,” Doyal added. “They were going back and forth, running and pushing the ball, and we just couldn’t keep up with them.”

After the Pointers tied the game at 24 late in the first half, when Jamie Wilson (12 points) canned a 3-pointer and Doyal scooped up a loose ball saved by Cartolaro at midcourt and went in for a breakaway layup, the Colonels took control early in the second.

Wilson opened the second-half scoring by draining his second 3-pointer from the left corner before Jordan scored on a putback of a 3-point miss by Nick Ferguson (13 points).

Mike Poindexter, who struggled from 3-point range in the first half before finishing with 14 points, then made an aggressive steal to start a fast break and Tavonne Payne drove down the right of the lane and fed Jordan with a back-door pass under the basket. His open layup resulted in the game’s 11th and final lead change, putting the Colonels on top, 30-29.

Late in the fourth quarter, Ferguson sent a long assist to Johnny Wimbish in the left of the lane for a layup before Wimbish returned the favor to Ferguson on transition for one of his game-high six assists, stretching the lead to 51-40.

“Johnny gave me some good passes,” Ferguson said.

After halftime, the Colonels held the Pointers to 4-for-16 shooting, including 1-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc, and didn’t allow a field goal in the final 4 minutes, 30 seconds of the fourth quarter.

“That says a lot about the defensive effort,” Cartolaro said. “We were much more disciplined defensively in the second half. We got our matchups with who we felt we matched up the best on. We switched and put Jerrell (on Roane), put Mike (Poindexter) on (6-foot-6 senior center William Cole, 0 points) and we had John (Wimbish) and Nick (Ferguson) playing (Doyal and Wilson, respectively).”

Altavista advances to face Appalachia, coached by Patton Jervis, Cartolaro’s friend and former Lonesome Pine District rival coach, in Thursday’s state semifinal at 5 p.m. at VCU’s Siegel Center.