Altavista's defense stifling against Appalachia

RICHMOND — Long after the frustration had worn off after being defeated by Madison County in the Region B championship game, Altavista junior forward Jerrell Jordan, and arguably every one of his teammates, wanted a chance to play the Mountaineers again.

Two weeks and two solid defensive efforts later, the Colonels have their wish on high school’s biggest stage.

Altavista is in position to claim a second state championship after a dominating defensive performance in a 46-34 Group A, Division 1, boys basketball state semifinal victory over Appalachia on Thursday night at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, setting up a rematch with Madison County (25-0) at 3:45 p.m. today.

“Anybody should be wanting to have another shot at somebody,” Altavista senior guard Mike Poindexter said. “It disappoints you like that in the region championship, but it was kind of embarrassing for us and we would like to get revenge.”

The Colonels (18-5) used a spectacular defensive first half to get to the championship game, holding Appalachia to 13.6 percent shooting in the first half and 25 percent for the game.

While Altavista did not shoot well either in the first half (28.6 percent), the Colonels allowed a mere seven second-chance points, limiting Appalachia (23-6) to one shot per possession before getting into the methodically run offense that frustrated the Bulldogs into fouls and missed assignments on the defensive end.

“We did what we needed to do to win,” Altavista coach Mike Cartolaro said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we’re advancing and we’re glad to be playing (today).”

Jordan scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds for the Colonels. Nick Ferguson added 13 points.

Forrest Stuart paced Appalachia with 13 points, but shot 4 of 15 from the floor.

Altavista never allowed Appalachia to close the gap within seven points for the entire second half, milking the clock and picking apart the Bulldogs’ trapping defense for easy points down low.

The snail’s pace the Colonels employed, which included packing in the defense and forcing Appalachia into 1 of 13 shooting from beyond the arc, was emphasized by Cartolaro before this game and will be again against Madison.

“I think we need to control the tempo and control the defense the whole time and hit the boards more,” Jordan said.

Appalachia went the final 3 1/2 minutes of both the first and second quarters without scoring and there were stretches that lasted longer where the Bulldogs did not hit a field goal and had to resort to getting points from the free throw line.

“Our defensive effort was really good and I thought that was the difference in the ball game,” Cartolaro said.

Madison took a six-point halftime lead in the Region B championship game and built a solid double-digit lead in the third quarter that took all the wind out of Altavista’s sails.

“If we learned anything, I think it’s at any time, they can go off,” Cartolaro said. “We’ve got to guard against those spurts that they have to give ourselves a chance to be in the ball game in the second half.”

Altavista’ grinding style at points in the game took chunks of time off the clock and frustrated Appalachia into fouls and missed assignments on defense, which could be a precursor to the Colonels’ style of play in the championship contest against the prolific offensive attack of Madison County.

“I think that they would definitely like to do that, just kind of limit our possessions and that’s something that we’re going to try not to let that happen,” Madison County coach Ben Breeden said. “We’ve got some ideas and some different things we’d like to do, so we’re definitely thinking about the different ways they can play us and we look forward to the challenge.”

This is the second time this postseason Altavista will play a team that has defeated the Colonels earlier in the season. The Colonels slowed down Dogwood District regular-season champion Appomattox to win the district tournament title and Altavista is expecting to come out with the same result against Madison.

“We lost to Appomattox the first time we played and then we beat them on their home floor in the district championship. These guys have been resilient all year,” Cartolaro said. “We’re going to feed off the fact we’re an underdog and probably a big underdog — maybe rightfully so because Madison is good. These guys aren’t going to back down.”

Sordelett is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.