Knights Win Two Of Three

Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, January 25, 2011

BUCKINGHAM – The Buckingham County High School basketball team won two home games late last week and started this week with a road loss in James River District play.

The Knights defeated Cumberland 94-82 on Thursday night, and followed that with a 70-54 victory over Randolph-Henry, before dropping a 68-51 decision at Amelia on Monday night.

Against Cumberland on Thursday night, the Knights overcame one of the biggest individual performances by a single player in recent memory, as CHS junior guard Devonte Booker scored 50 points for the Dukes.

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“I told him that I had a dream that he was going to score 40 points tonight,” said CHS head coach Marcus Gregory. “Before the game, I was teasing him, and told him that I thought he would only get 39. He proved me wrong, and then some.

“What impressed me though, is that when I told him in the locker room after the game that he had scored 50 points, he immediately thanked his teammates for setting screens. That says a lot more about him than what the 50 points does.”

“We haven't had a player get that hot against us like Booker did in a very long time,” said Gowin. “Especially in this gym. Sometimes, a player can get that hot, and all you can do is just tip you hat to him, and say congratulations. He had a great night. It's one he'll remember for the rest of his life.”

Cumberland turned an intense start into a quick 12-0 lead just minutes into the game. The Knights recovered in the up-tempo contest to trail 26-24 at the end of the first quarter.

The Dukes responded to Buckingham's rally, and were able to maintain a slim lead for most of the second quarter.

The backcourt combination of Booker and Rashawn Sims helped the Dukes keep pace with the hosts, who were led by guard Caleb White, who scored 13 of his 24 points in the first half.

The two teams traded buckets until midway through the third quarter, when White hit four-straight free throw attempts with a little over four minutes remaining in the period to give the Knights a 54-47 advantage.

Buckingham extended its lead to 70-56 at the end of the third, and at one point had as much as a 17-point advantage early in the fourth quarter. Cumberland rallied, and worked its deficit down to ten points.

Cumberland appeared to be building momentum for a late-game rally, before White stole the ball at midcourt, threw an outlet pass to LA Briley, who then dumped the ball off to a trailing Landon Allen for an easy lay-up to put the Knights up 82-67 with five minutes to play.

Cumberland was able to remain within striking distance, given the up-and-down nature of the game, but was unable to solidly regain the momentum.

In addition to Booker's 50 points, Sims added 18, while Shaquille Warren scored seven.

“I'm proud of what my guys did tonight, even in the loss. This is the intensity I see every day in practice,” said Gregory. “It's been frustrating. It puzzles me how we can play this intense in practice, but have trouble duplicating it in a game. If we had played with this intensity all season, we would have more than one win at this point.

“Now that they've shown they can play at this level in a game, this kind of performance becomes an even bigger expectation.”

Buckingham put four players in double-figures in scoring. Allen led the Knights with 25, while White had 24 and Briley and Tarian Ayers scored 18 and 15 respectively.

“I was happy with the way we withstood their early challenge and were able to quickly recover,” said Gowin. “It may not be the kind of defensive effort we would've liked to have, but we adjusted and did what we needed to do in order to win the game.”

Allen continued his hot shooting in Friday night's game against Randolph-Henry. With senior center Kevin Bolden on the bench nursing an ankle sprain, BCHS relied on its outside shooting to keep pace with the Statesmen, who had taken an 18-point victory over BCHS earlier in the month.

Randolph-Henry held a lead for most of the first half, behind the scoring of Khari Jenkins, who had ten of his team-high 17 points in the first half, while Allen helped the Knights keep pace. Allen scored 16 of his game-high 30 points in the first half, which included four three-pointers.

Due in large part to Allen's ability to score from outside, the Statesmen were forced to abandon the zone defense that worked so well for them in the first meeting.

Cam Johnson's stickback just before the halftime buzzer tied the game at 33 apiece, but set the tone for the third quarter.

“That was a big momentum boost for us going into the half,” said Gowin. “We gained a lot of confidence from that play, and it set the tone for the third quarter.”

Buckingham carried the momentum into the second half, and took full advantage of Randolph-Henry's switch in defenses.

The Knights out-scored Randolph-Henry 20-10 in the third period. Allen scored two three-pointers early in the quarter, which helped to open up the lane for the BCHS offense.

Meanwhile, BCHS picked up its intensity on defense, as the Statesmsn were forced to settle for outside shots, which helped the Knights to pull away to the 16-point victory.

In addition to Jenkins' team-high 17 points, Bryant Jones scored 12 points and Tavon Williams added ten.

Allen was 8-8 from the foul line, and scored six three pointers to amass 30 points, while Johnson and White added 13 points apiece. Ayers scored eight.

“At halftime, we really stressed that we needed to avoid turnovers, and the need to keep Jones from getting into a rhythm. We had a total of nine turnovers for the game, and held Jones to six points in the second half.”

The road wasn't as kind to Buckingham on Monday night, as the host Raiders jumped on the Knights early and never allowed Buckingham up off the mat. Amelia led 32-22 at the half, and was up 47-38 going into the third quarter, before pulling away for the 68-51 victory.

Cam Johnson scored 11 points in the loss to lead three Knights in double figures. Allen and Tarian Ayers scored ten points apiece, while White was held to nine points before fouling out.

Bolden returned to the court, but was limited to just three rebounds and three blocks. Buckingham committed 16 turnovers in the loss.

There will be no rest for the weary this week, as Buckingham was scheduled to travel to Central on Tuesday night, before returning home to host Amelia on Friday night.