PALMYRA — The Fluvanna boys’ team took its first defeat as visiting John Handley won 73-61 in the Fluvanna Christmas Bash championship.
“We got beat by a better team tonight. I think their aggressiveness took us out of our offense a little bit and it took us to the second half to understand how hard we have to cut,” said FCHS head coach Munro Rateau.
The Judges were up 21-20 near the start of the second quarter. Quick transition offense countered with strong inside presence allowed JHHS to end the second frame on a 15-2 run to take a 36-23 lead at the break.
“We didn’t come out like we come out usually. We have to come out with a higher intensity,” said YaYa Anderson.
The Flucos (8-1) came out of the half at a faster speed but John Handley (6-1) countered to stretch the lead to 18 multiple times and held a 58-40 before the fourth quarter started.
A recording of second half of the Fluco SN broadcast
FCHS would cut the deficit to 11 a few times in the fourth quarter but never brought it within single digits. For the entire game, Fluvanna shot 46 percent from the free throw line. The Flucos never held a lead and only tied the game once, at 2-2.
“I thought we got better in the second half. We just didn’t make free throws in the first half and that dug us a hole,” said Rateau.
Anderson lead the Flucos in scoring with 16 points. Junior, sixth-man Brad Bullock scored double digits for the second straight game with 15 points. Blake Hills finished the night with nine points.
“Handley is a really good team, they will probably be the best team we play this year except for Charlottesville, Monticello and others in our district. This was a good test. Hopefully this will open our eyes and we will know how hard we’ll have to work to get to the next level,” said Anderson.
After the New Year, Fluvanna begins district play by hosting Western Albemarle. The Warriors placed fifth in the NBC29/Daily Progress Holiday Tournament by beating Spotswood for the third time this year then knocked off Jefferson District foe Charlottesville after losing in the first round to Culpeper.
“I’m proud of the effort we gave [against John Handley], sometimes you’re going to play better teams than you. We’re going to use this as a learning experience and we’ll going to be better because of it,” said Rateau.
The FCHS-WAHS match up is set for 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 in the Shoebox. The game will be broadcast on the Fluco SN.
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