William Fleming beat John Marshall 65-62 in the state Group AAA semifinals at VCU’s Siegel Center Wednesday afternoon.
Travis McKie, the sensational junior, led John Marshall with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Randall Ward chipped in with 19 points, including five 3-pointers.
William Fleming got 21 points and four treys from Troy Daniels. Eric Thomas and 6-7 Jamille Hagins had 14 apiece for the Colonels.
John Marshall’s Frank Threatts
On William Fleming’s 22 offensive rebounds and 15 rebounding margin:
“Broke our back. They just did it all night long. We just stood around and they went to the boards.”
JM’s Travis McKie
On officiating
“I’m not holding anything back. The calls were absolutely awful. As players, there’s nothing we can do.”
JM’s Randall Ward
On confidence in team
“Going into every game we feel like we can beat anybody if we play our ball. I just think we played down to our competition.”
On play down stretch
“I just wanted to step it up for my team. They were triple-teaming Travis. I just couldn’t make enough.”
William Fleming coach Mickey Hardy
On game
“It was a very intense ballgame. A tough ballgame. Like a prize fight. It’s almost like the last man standing. Any time the game goes down to the last shot, it was a good game.”
On rebounding
“The last couple of days we’ve been talking about boxing out. It looked like we attacked the offensive glass well.”
On McKie
“He’s a heck of a ball player. He can play with anybody in the country.”
On how he felt with Little’s would-be OT forcing 3-pointer went up.
“[My stomach] was about the same through the game. It didn’t change.”
On who they’d like to see in the state final Friday at 8:45 p.m.
“I kind of hope both of them lose. (laughs) We can’t pick either poison.”
WF’s Eric Thomas
On game
“I just went hard. I didn’t want to lose. We knew we had a fight coming into the game. We just stuck with it and kept fighting. I don’t think any team in the state is really respecting us, but we’re going to earn it.”
John Marshall 18 12 13 19 – 62
William Fleming 13 16 20 16 – 65
John Marshall (26-5): Ward 19,
Johnson 6, Cooley 6, Little 4, McKie 27, O’Neil 0, Brown 0, Braxton 0.
Totals: 22 12-19 62. 3-point goals: Ward 5, Little.
William Fleming (25-4): Manning
6, Anderson 8, Daniels 21, Thomas 14, Hagins 14, Henderson 0, Tucker 0,
Preston 0, Johnson 2, Jones 0, Brown 0. Totals: 23 13-17 65. 3-point
goals: Daniels 4, Anderson 2.
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