Granby Stuns Maury in OT
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style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>Final in Norfolk Scope Holiday
Tournament (OT) - - Granby 66, #9 Maury 64:
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Both stability and success have eluded the Granby
Comets for a while. [rl]A proud program that
won a state title back in 2000 under Lonnie Blow, the current Virginia State
University Head Basketball Coach, Granby hasn't won
more than 16 games in a season since his departure nine years ago.
style=> Furthermore, they've had five different
coaches in the past nine years, finishing at or below the .500 mark four times
in that stretch.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Enter yet another new face this season,
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Mike Evans.
style=> A former All-American guard at Booker T.
Washington High School, Evans guided the Bookers to the State Championship game
in 1992 after a remarkable performance in the semifinals that year vs. South Lakes
with 47 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and seven steals.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Now in his first season as a varsity Head Boys
Basketball Coach after previously serving as a varsity Girls Head Basketball
Coach at his alma mater and then an assistant with the Wilson girls program,
Evans is looking to restore the Granby program to the Championship level it
once attained at the start of the turn of the century.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Saturday night's showing was certainly a major step in
the right direction.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Evans' Comets did the unthinkable, rallying from a
six-point deficit in the final 27 seconds of regulation to force overtime and
stun the reigning Group 5A-South Region Champion Maury Commodores, 66-64 during
the semifinals of the Second Annual Norfolk Scope Holiday Invitational.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"This group of guys I've gotten the last three months,
they're building a trust in me and we'll see flashes.
style=> Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but
they're going to fight till the end," commented Evans, who wasn't officially
introduced as the new Head Coach at Granby until November, replacing Mike
Donovan.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"From practice to games, let's compete.
style=> I'm trying to get them to keep fighting.
style=> It's a great group of guys and I love them to
death. I'm glad Mr. [Tommy] Staples called
for me to get the job."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Early on, Granby showed more fight in the than Maury,
claiming a 14-12 lead after one quarter of play as 5-foot-10 senior guard
class=SpellE>Jhamani
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Johnson scored eight points in the
first eight minutes. As great as his
start was, it couldn't top his finish, saving the heroics for the end.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Struggling much of the night as he battled foul trouble
a pesky Granby defense, Maury sophomore star guard Matt Coleman - - widely regarded as one of the nation's elite
prospects from the Class of 2017 - - seemed to deliver the knockout punch in
the final minutes when he broke the tie late in the fourth quarter with a
three-pointer, then later nailed a pair of free-throws and pushed the deficit
to six with a powerful two-handed dunk.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>As some fans began to file for the exits, Granby gave
class=GramE>themselves a chance when senior guard
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Marquese Jacobs hit a three-pointer with 5.1 seconds remaining to pull the
Comets within two at 58-56. On the
inbounds pass, Johnson stole it and was fouled.
Johnson made them both, and Granby went to overtime with Maury's star
Coleman having to watch from the bench as he was called for his fifth foul
during the wild sequence to close out regulation.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Marquese Jacobs made two
tough buckets with the and-1 and the 3.
I told him I was going to get a steal.
I got one, got fouled and just had to make those free-throws," said
Johnson, finishing the night with 16 points, three assists and three steals
while playing all 36 minutes.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We knew we were going to beat them.
style=> We just had to play our game.
style=> The last time we played them we turned the
ball over a lot in the fourth quarter and gave them too many easy shots.
style=> We believed if we took care of the ball
better we were going to win this time."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>A 58-49 winner of the Comets back on December 19th, Maury
began to stem the tide a bit in taking a 22-20 lead late in the second quarter
until Granby closed the half on a 9-0 run to take a 29-22 advantage into the
locker room at half-time. It wasn't
until about the fourth quarter that Coleman broke loose and started to take
control, scoring 14 of his 18 points after intermission.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Coleman was held to just two shot attempts with three
fouls in the first half. As a result,
with him being denied the ball much of the night, the Commodores shot only
39.6% from the field, 34.8% in through two quarters of action.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Matt Coleman is one of the great players in the
area. As a former All-American myself, I
knew it would be hard to contain him or stop him, so we had to slow him down
just a little," remarked Evans, who spoke with Coleman shortly after the game
ended at center court.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I just told him to keep his head up.
style=> There are going to be many games played like
this. Don't let anybody see your
emotions. Run out of the locker room and
keep working."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>In a game that featured 15 ties and nine lead changes,
Granby refused to fold, rising to the occasion when things looked bleakest.
style=> They even overcame two technical fouls, one
on Evans, during the second half. The
other came with a seven-point advantage that ended up triggering a Commodores
16-5 run that was sparked by Coleman, junior wing Anthony Williams and junior center
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Tremon Harold.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>During overtime, both teams exchanged baskets.
style=> Williams' hoop with 54 seconds left in
overtime knotted the score 64-all when Evans decided to go to a move he did on
a few occasions during the night, stalling for the final shot by having his
team hold the ball. It's something Maury
sideline boss Jack Baker as well as
his old coach, Barry Hamler, have been known to do on
quite a few occasions.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I knew I couldn't give Jack the last shot and I
believe in Jhamani," noted Evans.
style=> "I wanted to slow the game down a little bit,
but I was looking to attack. If we had
it, I wanted my team to rather win or lose it with the last shot."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Johnson came through with a driving lay-up with four
seconds left in OT and Maury's desperation heave at the horn was off the mark.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Next up for Granby, which has rebounded from a 0-4
start to even their record at 5-5, is a date with Booker T. Washington in
Monday night's Scope Holiday Championship.
The 5-2 Bookers come in streaking, having won five in a row, including
defeating Woodside 61-43 in the semifinals on Saturday.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It was a great game just because it was the last game
of the night, the semifinals to get to the Championship," acknowledged Evans
when asked if beating Maury was a signature victory early in his tenure.
style=> "But I've got one more to get against my
former team. That would really be the
icing on the cake."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>
Player of the Game:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> Granby SF/SG Milton Shaw - -
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The
6-foot-4 senior swingman played a stellar game, recording a double-double with
17 points and 13 rebounds. Six of those
points came in overtime, including 4-of-4 at the foul line.
style=> Throughout the night, he maneuvered to the
basket with ease and even used his athleticism for a couple of crowd-pleasing
jams.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Keys to Victory:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>#1
- - Points in the Paint:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Slowly
but surely, this became an area that Granby felt it could exploit against a
Maury team devoid of a true big man or post presence.
style=> For the game, the Comets outscored Maury
36-26 in the painted area.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Maury was forced to shoot a lot of long jumpers, going
3-for-11 from three-point territory and 0-for-5 in the first half.
style=> In addition to Johnson and Shaw getting to
the cup and combining for 33 points, junior guards
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Darryon Green and Juwan Jones together
chipped in 15 points.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
#2 - - Patient, Yet Physical:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Evans
decided to use the 'stall' tactic a few times during the game and it help keep
the tempo in their favor as well as prevent Coleman from taking over.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I know he's a great player and we had to throw a lot
of things at him," Evans added of the floor general for the Commodores.
style=> "I knew Jack Baker from when I used to play
and coach against me, he threw a lot of bodies at me, tried to wear me down at
the end. I keep someone on his face, on
his body. I tried to keep him off balance
to get him to thinking and Jack thinking."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>When their leader fouled out, it became difficult for
the Commodores to run their offense the way they wanted to and worked to Granby's
favor in the extra session.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"When Matt fouled out, we knew we were going to win.
style=> We wanted to play him physical, make him get
frustrated and make him take tough shots, not give up any uncontested
shots. We just had to be patient.
style=> And we scored when we had to."
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
#3 - - Bench Production:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Jacobs
gave Granby a spark off the bench, playing 34 minutes and acting almost as a
starter with his 14 points on 6-of-11 from the floor.
style=> The Comets used five different reserves, and
even those that didn't score found a way to contribute.
style=> In the case of Curtis Dudley, he was assigned to defend Coleman for a portion of
the night.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>One of the strengths for the Commodores a season ago
was their depth. This season, they've
yet to develop quite as productive of a rotation.
style=> Maury got one basket from its bench, a
three-pointer from senior Corbin
class=SpellE>McElrath.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The rest of their reserves were a combined 0-for-8 from
the floor with a pair of turnovers.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
href="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/914/1637782.WMA">
none;text-underline:none'>Postgame Audio with Granby Coach Mike Evans
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Final Stats:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Granby
Comets 66:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
(5-5 Overall)
Milton Shaw - - 17Pts. 6-11FG, 5-6FT, 13Reb. 2Ast.
Jhamani Johnson - - 16Pts. 5-9FG, 6-7FT, 3Ast. 3Stl
class=GramE>.
Marquese Jacobs - - 14Pts. 6-11FG, 2-2 3's
Juwan Jones - - 8Pts. 3-7FG, 4Reb.
Darryon Green - - 7Pts. 3-10FG, 4Reb.
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Maury
Commodores 64:
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style=> (8-2 Overall)
Anthony Williams - - 19Pts. 5-11FG, 9-12FT, 7Reb. 2Ast. 2Blk.
Matt Coleman - - 18Pts. 4-10FG, 2-4 3's, 8-11FT, 7Reb. 2Ast. 2Stl. (Fouled Out
class=GramE>)
Tremon Harold - - 13Pts. 4-5FG, 5-7FT, 3Reb. (Fouled
Out)
David Reed - - 8Pts. 4-8FG, 3Ast.
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