Coach Rateau was not as pleased with the second half as he was with the first, noting that his team still needs to learn to play a full 32 minutes. Leading the Flucos in scoring were sophomores Vinnie Agee and Jalen Harrison, who recorded 28 and 20 respectively. Agee also grabbed 13 rebounds.
In the first half, the Flucos played an intense man to man defense that prevented the Dukes from getting good looks at the basket. When the Dukes did get a rare open shot, it usually failed to drop through. At half time it looked like a rout was on.
In the first half, the Flucos scored a modest 14 points in each quarter. In the opening quarter, the scoring was balanced. Forecourt senior Trevonne Bradley had two baseline jumpers for four points. Sophomore Vinnie Agee had a three pointer and two free throws for five points, senior guard Brad Bullock added three points, and sophomore forward Jalen Harrison added a basket on a defensive rebound and a coast to coast drive to the basket. Agee had several nice steals in the quarter.
Agee took over in the second quarter, scoring nine of his team’s fourteen points.
Agee opened the quarter with a three pointer from the side to give the Flucos an 11 point lead at 17-6; they maintained a double digit lead for the rest of the game. Late in the quarter, Agee made two steals that he took the length of the court for scores, the second score was an impressive dunk to make the score 24-8 with 1:30 left in the half. This game could have ended with the Flucos up by a bigger margin, but for the fact that Cumberland sank desperation three pointers to end both the second and third quarters.
In the third quarter the game opened up a bit, as the defenses on both sides were somewhat less intense. Both teams scored twenty points in the quarter. Jalen Harrison asserted himself for the Flucos, scoring twelve of his twenty points. Early in the quarter, the Flucos took their largest lead of the game when senior Dashon Tibbs scored on a fast break to put his team up by 24 at 41-17. From that point on, Cumberland gradually cut into the Fluco lead.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Dukes reduced the lead to twelve, and the final margin was a comfortable thirteen points. Agee did most of the scoring for the
Flucos in the fourth quarter. He had nine points including four of the team’s five field goals in the quarter. In addition to Agee’s and Harrison’s scoring, Bullock added seven points. Tibbs was the second leading rebounder for the Flucos with six.
At half time of each Fluco home game, students are invited down on to the court to take half court shots for a dollar per shot. Anyone who makes a shot is awarded ten dollars, or the student may try a second shot for a fifty dollar prize. This is usually a good half time fund raiser. Often no one makes the shot. Sometimes one or two do make it, but certainly far less than one in ten shots go in. However, on Wednesday night, Fluco senior Michael “Big Mike” Lawhorne, sunk his first try, and risking ten dollars, then made his second try, to win fifty dollars.
The Flucos now travel to Liberty-Bealton on Dec. 11 and return home to play Spotsylvania High School on Dec.14. They have an unusual Saturday game the next day at Beacon High, and then travel to Cumberland on Dec. 19. Their first Jefferson district clash will be at Western Albemarle in Crozet on Dec. 21. The Flucos will then host their annual Christmas Bash tournament on Dec. 27 and 28.
