Gallery by Greg Barnett
Lindside – James Monroe took a pass on cutting down the nets last week after its sectional championship win.
Wednesday night the Mavericks were more than happy to grab the scissors and climb the ladder of success.
The change of heart came after James Monroe secured a berth in the Boys State Basketball Tournament with a 72-52 win over Greenbrier West in their Region 3 co-final championship game.
“This feels amazing. That is the only words I have, it’s amazing,” senior guard Shad Sauvage said. “After last year, we worked really hard. It feels great to be where we are and it feels great to be going to Charleston.”
The win avenges a heartbreaking loss to the Cavaliers on the same floor in last year’s co-final clash when the Mavs were heavy favorites.
“There is a big old monkey thrown in the corner right now. It has been sitting there for a year. It has been on the boys’ backs, my back and the assistant coaches’ backs,” head coach Matt Sauvage said. “Very seldom was something mentioned about last year. It was unspoken. The boys knew what they had to do and it has driven the boys to this point.”
While the loss might not have been the hot topic of conversation in the locker room, there was plenty that happened on the floor which could have reminded James Monroe of the loss.
The biggest reminder came right out of the gate when the high powered Mavericks could not buy a hoop early.
Although the home team never trailed all night, nearly six minutes into the game, the visitors were only down 6-5.
“It really hurt us the first five minutes of the game. They were a little over-hyped and a little mistake prone. We played our hind-ends off to defend them every trip,” Greenbrier West head coach Jared Robertson said. “We got every rebound when they missed. We were in the passing lanes and I don’t think they expected us to play man as much as we did. Our kids did a great job of attacking the basket and getting inside, but we panicked when we got in there.”
In the final two minutes of the first period, James Monroe found itself and built an eight-point lead after the first eight minutes.
The window of opportunity had passed for the Cavaliers.
“It was a very slow start, especially for us. The pace was (alright) at that point, but we weren’t making shots. Luckily they weren’t either, so it was working out,” coach Sauvage said.
Eli Allen drilled a crucial 3-ball that seemed to relax the partisan James Monroe crowd. Allen then became the distributor finding Josh Burks for a basket before he dropped off a pass to Sauvage for 3-pointer.
At a time when the Mavericks could have tightened up from the lack of scoring, the opposite happened.
“There was a point there in the first quarter that I told the boys that we just had to play more free. For us, sometimes when I call out a play it hurts us,” Sauvage said. “They play better just going. Once they freed up from the crowd and the noise that was going on, it was a whole lot better.”
Leading by nine points midway through the second period, Allen found Sauvage free on an in-bounds pass behind the arc.
The ensuing 3-ball ignited a mini 8-2 run to build a 15-point lead that would be 17 points at halftime.
“We knew the shots would drop and they were just (rattling) out early. We knew we were a good shooting team and the shots would eventually fall,” Shad Sauvage said. “We stayed calm and composed because we didn’t want to give them any hope. We just had to keep our foot on the gas pedal.”
The second chance for James Monroe to panic came early in the second half when West finally started to find to scoring success.
“We talked at halftime about getting in the lane and jump-stop, then get to the rim. Ball fake and then get to the rim. We scored a lot better doing that,” Robertson said. “If we could have scored like that early in the game we could have been up 10 or 12. There is your uncomfortable when we came down and beat them here last year. They are kids, they will start looking around.”
Just as West had built some hope of trimming the lead inside double digits, Cameron Thomas made a crucial play that stopped the run in its tracks.
“I remember one time we cut it to 12. We had executed on both ends two or three trips in a row. We made them take a terrible shot, but Thomas grabbed the rebound, scored and got a 3-point play,” Robertson said. “If we get that rebound and come down and hit a shot to cut it to nine or 10, you never know how it’s going to go.”
The play by Thomas was the start of a run that put the Mavs up by 22 points. West cut the lead back to 16, but could get no closer the rest of the way.
“Give them credit, they made shots. Everybody knows Sauvage can shoot, but Burks hit a big one at a critical point. Allen made a big one,” Robertson said. “The Ridgeway kid, who we don’t even put on our scouting report, other than who he is, makes a couple of shots that I don’t know how he made. That’s basketball and they have a great club, but I am proud of how we came in here and battled them.”
Cooper Ridgeway ended the night with nine big points, but also played strong down low for the Mavs filling in for Thomas who fought foul trouble all night.
Ridgeway’s experience was gained early in the season when James Monroe had some unfortunate injuries.
“I wouldn’t wish Cameron to get hurt at all, but when he was hurt and Josh was hurt, that gave (Cooper) time to develop. Ever since then we have been able to use him a lot more,” Sauvage said. “If that hadn’t happened, I’m not sure if we would have. At the time, it was rough, but in the long run it helped tremendously with this team. Cooper had a great game tonight.”
Shad Sauvage led all scorers with 27 points on the night, hitting six 3-pointers.
“Last home game here for me, so it felt great to put on a show like that,” Shad Sauvage said.
The performance was also special for his coach, who is also his dad.
“The past four or five games you have seen it come on for Shad. It was really nice to see him have another game like that,” coach Sauvage said. “He was playing free and the shot was there.”
Allen scored 14 points and Thomas finished with 12. Michael Kanode led the Cavaliers with 20 points, while Chase McClung and Elijah Perkins scored 10.
James Monroe earned the the No. 1 seed for Class A and will play Madonna Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
GW: 8 12 18 14 – 52
JM: 16 21 21 14 – 72
Greenbrier West
Brayden McClung 6, Chase McClung 10, Ty Nickell 3, Michael Kanode 20, Elijah Perkins 10, Dale Boone 3. Totals: 17 16-20 52.
James Monroe
Josh Burks 8, Shad Sauvage 27, Cooper Ridgeway 9, Eli Allen 14, Collin Fox 2, Cameron Thomas 12. Totals: 25 13-18 72.
3-pointers – GW: 2 (Nickell, Boone); JM: 9 (Sauvage 6, Burks, Allen 2).