Senior Night Magic - Chargers Win In Style

Varsity Men's Basketball: Spotsylvania Knights vs. Chancellor Chargers

By: Greg Wolfe

Tuesday night's final regular season game between the Chancellor Chargers (11-9) and the Spotsylvania Knights (5 - 17) was full of amazing shots and incredible plays, but mostly by the Chargers who again cruised to a 57-47 win. It was Senior Night, and 13 total seniors were honored!

For basketball there was Deion Atkinson (Team manager), E.J. Jenkins (has over 1,000 career points), Matt Byram (3rd leading scorer on the team), Jordan Byrd (who plans to attend VCU and play baseball), Omair Shah (who has missed most of the season with a torn ACL sadly), Jason Brown (leads team in assists), Michael Freeman (who plans to join the military after school), C.J. Washington (who was a steady point guard all year), George Brown (a 4 year member of the team), Fabian Pacheco (who plans to attend either Virginia Tech or James Madison), and finally Yetur Matos (who is a 4 year member of the team). There were also two cheerleaders honored, Carly Boyle and Madison Garret.

The start of the game was one to remember, as the entire gym was filled with cheers. Despite three early three shots made by the Knight's Number 22, the Chargers had something even more exciting. Omair Shah started the frenzy as he was announced a starter despite a leg that was still healing. He toughed it out, and even made a Three-Pointer that tied the game. Second later, it was big ol' George Brown working off that Senior Night magic with a three pointer of his own that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The energy inside the gym would die down a bit as the quarter progressed, but other Charger starters Jordan Byrd, Robbie Foster, Fabian Pacheco, and Michael Freeman made use of their start and played good ball. Pacheco probably had the best night out of the crew, as he heated up for 5 points (including a three-pointer), 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks. So how could the first quarter get even more crazy? Well, E.J. Jenkins slammed a powerful dunk down to put an exclamation point on the insane start.

Going into the second quarter, the Chargers didn't slow down as C.J. Washington joined in with a three-pointer of his own that sparked the Chargers offense. On the very next offensive possession, Jason Brown threw a bullet pass to Jenkins who easily laid it up for two points and the Chargers were rolling. They'd later grab the lead, as the Knights saw inconsistent shooting and turnovers. The Chargers would go into halftime with a hard fought 29-24 lead.

In the third quarter, Jason Brown found his stride and built off of it for the rest of the half. He quickly grew the numbers for a double-double, getting 17 points and 10 rebounds on the night with a majority of them coming from the third quarter on. The Chargers also stayed out of turnover issues, which greatly helped their cause.

The Knights kept it close though. Number 2 continued his big night with 11 points (6 in the third quarter), as he helped keep his team in the game. They also maintained ball control much better, which let the third quarter drain away. Going into the final frame, it was still a 38-36 Charger lead.

The fourth quarter was Jason Brown's biggest scoring quarter as he collected an easy three-pointer and helped his team kick off offensive possession. He almost had a touchdown pass to Yetur Matos but it was unfortunately blocked at the rim by the Knights (yes, we know that sounds weird for Charger football fans). The Chargers played good ball possession and didn't turn it over, to bleed the clock and make the quarter quick. It was also their highest scoring quarter thanks to a big effort by Jenkins and Brown.

In all, 8 Chargers scored points tonight and that was the biggest contribution to their win. They spread the points all around, as their biggest play makers Jenkins and Brown put up 33 combined points. This is a huge victory, as they broke a 3 game winning streak for the Knights. Now, they will wait to hear their fate on how their playoffs will begin.

Stat Section

Chancellor Chargers

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Spotsylvania Knights

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