Gallery by Greg Barnett
Lindside – It’s not how you start but how you finish.
Both the start and the finish were satisfactory for James Monroe, though.
Jumping out to a 17-2 first-quarter lead, the No. 2-ranked Mavericks withstood a rally from No. 1-ranked Greater Beckley and countered with their own second-half run to beat the Crusaders 79-68 Tuesday night in Lindside.
With the win the Mavericks avenged their lone loss of the season, a 94-74 defeat at Greater Beckley on Dec. 14.
The hosts played like a team motivated from the start, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game.
“We usually don’t talk to them a whole lot before the game,” James Monroe coach Matt Sauvage said. “Whether it be because they’re No. 1 in the state or because they handed us our only loss, if they can’t get up for Greater Beckley then we’ve got the wrong guys and tonight I think we’ve got the right guys.”
The bleeding stopped momentarily when the Crusaders found the bottom of the net on a layup but the onslaught continued with eight straight from the hosts.
“They’re 18-year old kids,” Greater Beckley coach Justin Arvon said. “We’ve got a really great team and I’m proud of them, but I think they thought they were something maybe they weren’t to start the game and didn’t give due respect to a very good team who is now the No. 1 team in single-A. It might be good for us in the long run, but Matt has a really good team and they’re very well-coached and of course they can jump out on us if we don’t bring our best effort.”
The visitors steadied the storm with a 7-0 run to end the quarter and the momentum carried into the second. Micheal Judy opened the quarter with a 3-pointer and Kaden Smallwood knocked down a free throw to make it a 17-13 game.
A three-point play courtesy of Kendrick Wilson later in the frame made it a 21-18 game but the Mavericks still maintained a lead until late in the second.
A layup from Azel Carmichael followed by a Wilson three-point play trimmed the deficit to a point, setting the stage for the latter to shine. While advancing the ball, Carmichael picked James Monroe all-stater Eli Allen’s pocket, scoring on the other end to stake the visitors to a 28-27 lead.
A pair of free throws from Allen and five straight from Shad Sauvage at the end of the quarter helped the hosts take a three-point advantage into the locker room.
The early part of the third quarter was a battle as well with the Crusaders taking a three-point advantage after buckets by John Rose and Kendrick Wilson.
“A couple things changed,” Arvon said. “We went with a lineup that could maybe keep them out of the lane and that changed the defensive effort. Once you keep them out of the lane and don’t let Eli distribute the ball, then you can get stops and get down to the other end. After that we stopped running the floor like we should.”
Laying on the mat, the Mavericks stood up and delivered a counterpunch.
“At the end of the first I told them they’re a good team – one of the best teams in the state,” Sauvage said. “We knew they were going to make a run and one thing we struggled with last year was keeping our foot on the gas. You saw that a little in the second quarter and we got into foul trouble which doesn’t help, but we kind of let off the gas defensively and offensively. The third quarter started off that way and then we got in the motion of things.”
A 12-2 run midway through the third quarter, initiated by the trio of Josh Burks, Collin Fox and Cameron Thomas pushed the Mavericks out to 46-39 advantage that expanded to a 55-47 lead heading into the fourth.
From there the hosts cruised opening the fourth on a 7-0 run, leading by as many as 14 points in the final frame.
“They executed and we didn’t,” Arvon said. “They hit free throws and shots and we didn’t. Basketball’s an easy game. Whoever’s hitting is going to win. We weren’t getting hands up on their shooters. Shad hit a couple 3s in the second half but we just weren’t out there guarding. I think maybe because he missed a few in the first half we thought he was having an off night. But they hit shots, made their free throws and didn’t turn the ball over and we did and they pulled it out.”
Sauvage led all scorers with 25 points while Allen added 23. Cameron Thomas was the third Maverick in double figures with 12 points. Kendrick Wilson led the Crusaders with 19 points while Kaden Smallwood chipped in 18. Sherlock Padmore rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.
***
Prior to the game, James Monroe guard Josh Burks found out earlier Tuesday morning that his father had passed away. The team’s defensive MVP, Coach Sauvage gave him the option to sit the game out. He instead chose to play, scoring eight points in the win.
“His dad passed away earlier this morning,” Sauvage said. “Shad and Eli left school a little earlier today. Eli and Josh are basically brothers and Shad’s kind of a three-brother system with them. They kind of bonded for a couple hours and just wanted to get away from things. I told Josh ‘It’s up to you if you want to play tonight. That’s fine if you don’t. Nobody here is going to say a word.’ Immediately he was like ‘Coach, I’m playing. That’s not the question.’ Josh is a very unsung hero for us.
“There’s been multiple games where he’s never scored a point and he’s been our MVP. His defense is crazy good. Tonight though, there was a ton of positive emotion. Usually he makes a play and just jogs back up the court. Tonight he made plays and you could see it come out. That was good to see, but we’d like everybody to keep him in their prayers.”
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GBC (8-2): 9 22 16 21 – 68
JM (12-1): 17 17 21 24 – 79
Greater Beckley
Kaden Smallwood 18, John Rose 8, Sherlock Padmore 10, Kendrick Wilson 19, Sean-David Kadjo 2, Michael Judy 7, Azel Carmichael 4
James Monroe
Josh Burks 8, Shad Sauvage 25, Cooper Ridgeway 4, Eli Allen 23, Collin Fox 7, Cameron Thomas 12
3-point goals – GBC: 4 (Smallwood 2, Rose 1, Judy 1); JM: 5 (Burks 2, Sauvage 2, Fox 1).