Altavista boys basketball in familiar role as underdog

Altavista boys basketball coach Mike Cartolaro and his young Colonels are accustomed to being overlooked and underestimated.

They have come to relish the role of upset specialists in the postseason after nearly defeating Dogwood District champion Dan River in the district tournament championship, knocking off fourth-seeded Page County, top-seeded Buffalo Gap and second-seeded Riverheads in the Region B tournament and sending Franklin packing in Saturday’s Group A, Division 1, state quarterfinal at Longwood University.

“Our guys have been a pleasant surprise to make it to this point,” Cartolaro said of the Colonels’ fifth state Final Four berth in the past eight seasons. “We’ve been underdogs a lot.”

Region B champion Altavista (16-10) certainly will have to bring its A game to Richmond today when it challenges Region A champion Colonial Beach at 1 p.m. in VCU’s Siegel Center.

“Absolutely,” Cartolaro said. “This is a high-octane offensive team to say the least.”

The Drifters (25-3) are averaging approximately 83 points a game in the postseason after netting around 75 points per game in the regular season.

“We’ve got to play the Los Angeles Lakers and the VMI Keydets of high school basketball,” Cartolaro said of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA and Division I college basketball. “(Colonial Beach) could be the leading scorers in the state of Virginia at any classification.”

The Drifters are fueled by their two starting guards, 6-foot-4 senior Tristan “T.T.” Carey, who became his school’s all-time leading scorer this season with more than 2,300 points, and Dylan Farinet, a 6-2 senior who’s averaging about 25 points per game in the postseason and is also the team’s leading rebounder.

“They’ve also got 6-2 and 6-3 forwards (but) these guys do it all,” Cartolaro said.

“(Carey) is a phenomenal scorer. In the three regional games and the state game (a win over Riverheads), he has averaged 37 points. He’s a major college player.”

This is Colonial Beach’s first Virginia High School League Final Four showing since switching from a private to a public school two years ago.

“Last year, they lost a close game to Surry County in the regional finals before Surry lost a close game to (eventual Group A, Division 1 state champion) Nelson County in the championship game,” Cartolaro said.

Altavista lost to Nandua in the 2002 state final and 2003 semifinals before winning its first state championship in 2004 over Radford and falling to Gate City in the 2007 semifinals.

“We’re healthy and the guys are excited to be going to the Final Four,” Cartolaro said. “It’s a young group with two seniors, so it’s a pleasant surprise. They’ve hung in there and been resilient, and lost a lot of tough games.”

Whereas the Colonels are sophomore- and junior-based, of the Drifters’ top seven players, five are seniors, so they have a sense of urgency and play the game at full-throttle.

“They really live off of transition and absolutely shoot 3(-pointers),” Cartolaro said. “They’re going to really look to push the ball every opportunity they have and are going to shoot endless 3s if they’re available. They’re going to take it to the rim and they share the ball a lot (so) we’ve got to try to break their rhythm.”

Altavista must find a way to establish its half-court game, keep the game in the 50s or 60s and avoid getting into a shootout with the high-scoring Drifters.

“For us to have an opportunity to win, we’ve got to slow the tempo,” Cartolaro said. “We’ve got to limit their possessions because these guys can score at will.”

The Colonels have implemented that game plan with success in the past in wins over faster, more athletic teams such as Clarke County in the Region B championship game two years ago, Nelson County in its five meetings last season, all losses, and the Dogwood District final this year.

“It’s not a new strategy,” Cartolaro said. “We tried to control the tempo against Dan River, to try to stay out of a track meet.”

He will rely on his two seniors, Jawaad Douglas and Kyle Andrews, who’s also the Colonels’ top 3-point threat, to play integral roles on defense, as they did inside and out against Franklin.

“Initially, it’s going to be our two seniors who have led us,” Cartolaro said.

“They will have to have some help, of course.”

That help likely will fall on the shoulders of junior wing Mike Poindexter and sophomore center Jerrell Jordan.

“Mike had a huge game the other day,” Cartolaro said of the quarterfinal win over Franklin. “He scored 12 in the fourth quarter and finished with 20.”

Jordan added 16 points and had a huge presence inside.

“We’re certainly going to need those types of efforts from those guys in the paint,” Cartolaro said.