by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
There’s no better way to honor a fallen soldier than to win a battle.
That’s what John Marshall did Tuesday night, defeating Mills Godwin 54-48 in the Justices’ first contest of the season.
JM, ranked fifth in the DigitalSports Top 10, is playing without starter Dermon “Trey” Brown, who was shot Saturday, Dec. 1, and past away Sunday.
JM honored Brown and his mother Monica Brown before the contest, retiring Dermon’s No. 3 jersey for the rest of the 2007-08 season.
Then the Justices went out to honor him with great play, but it didn’t work out that way early as both teams struggled to find the basket as JM led 21-15 at the break.
“We were just pressing,” said Justices point guard Randall Ward. “We were real emotional and real excited. Once we calmed down we played better.”
JM (1-0 Colonial, 1-0) extended the lead to 11 on Ward’s 3-point play. The 5-10 Ward had a team-high 16 points.
The Eagles (2-1, 3-3) sliced the advantage to five early in the fourth quarter as Kefentse Budd (11 points) put in five consecutive free throws.
Godwin cut the advantage to the slimmest of margins five minutes later, as Matt Mattioli‘s only bucket of game made it 46-45.
The Eagles scored almost twice as many points (21) in the fourth quarter as they did in each of the first three periods.
“We started playing hard,” Godwin coach Hunter Thomas said. “I thought we played much harder than we did the first three quarters.”
Ward came back for JM with a pull-up jumper, then Maurice Johnson (eight points) knocked in a layup for a 50-45 lead with 35 seconds left.
But Fletcher Lumpkin knocked in a trey from the right corner for Godwin to make things interesting. He had a game-high 20 points.
After Ward missed the front end of a one-and-one, Godwin had a chance to tie or take the lead with a trey, but Johnson stole a Godwin pass and got it to star sophomore Travis McKie.
The 6-7 forward knocked in four straight free throws to end the threat. McKie scored 15 points and blocked eight shots for JM.
“Everything we do is for Trey,” McKie said. “Every rebound, every shot, every dunk. Everything we do is for Trey.”
Mills Godwin 4 11 12 21 – 48
John Marshall 8 13 14 19 – 54
Mills Godwin (2-1 Colonial, 3-3): Caine 6, Mattioli 2, Parker 2, Lumpkin 20, McColley 3, Oley 4, Budd 11. Totals: 18 6-13 48. 3-point goals: Lumpkin 3, Mattioli 2, McColley.
John Marshall (1-0, 1-0): Farrar 0, Ward 16, Johnson 8, Brockington 2, Vaughan 0, Thornton 7, McKie 15, Brown 4, Lee 0, Jackson 0. Totals: 21 8-9 54. 3-point goals: Ward 2, Thornton, McKie.
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