Henrico Overwhelms John Marshall in TDIT
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Friday night marked the third meeting in the last 12
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months between the Henrico Warriors and John Marshall Justices, two Central
Region contenders with state title aspirations.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>John Marshall entered with plenty of size, playing
seven guys at least 6-foot-3 or bigger.
Henrico had only one player on its roster taller than 6-foot-3, but
Warriors 5-foot-10 senior guard Timmy
Jones offered a solution.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Speed kills," he said.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>And it did as Henrico sped past the Justices, 84-66 in
the semifinals of the 18th Annual Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament at
Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, VA. John
Marshall beat Henrico in the Championship of last year's TDIT, but fell to the
Warriors in the Central Region Tournament semifinals a couple months
later.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Warriors outscored John Marshall 26-9 in the second
quarter and 22-14 in the third period to overcome a 17-12 deficit at the end of
one. Even though the Justices were
taller in the front-court, Henrico managed to score at will in the paint,
beating JM 50-20 in that category and holding them to 28.6% shooting from the
field in the first half.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It was a big win.
It's a north-side rival, two good teams went at it head-to-head, and we
fought it out and battled. That's what
we had to do, and defense won the game for us really," Jones added.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>If you eliminate the 4-for-7 shooting by Citadel-bound
forward Brian White of the Justices
in the first half, John Marshall shot just 4-of-21 from the field, including
1-of-9 from there-point distance with 16 turnovers.
style=> White finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds
and five blocks to lead John Marshall.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Dominating inside for Henrico, however, was
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Marvin Smith, a 6-foot-6 senior forward
that might be as improved as any player in the state at the AAA level.
style=> Smith, a role player who was in the shadow of
others last season like guards Jones and Jordon
Talley as well as captain Evan Thorpe (now at CNU), more than held his own
going up against a D-1 player.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Smith posted 21 points and 14 rebounds, doing much of
his damage before half-time with 16 points and 11 boards, six of them on the
offensive end as he consistently got stick-backs to demoralize the John Marshall
defense.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It was a pretty good game for me, but more importantly
it was about the team W. I'm going to do
whatever it takes for the team to win," a humble Smith said following Henrico's
latest victory.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>His ascension from a capable performer to one that can
dominate at times came after Henrico's loss to Hampton in last season's State
Tournament semifinals. He decided to
dedicate his time to getting stronger and better.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Over the off-season, Tim, Jordon and I were at it
every day, lifting weights, shooting, running hills and working out with Matt
class=SpellE>Murrer (former VMI standout)," Smith explained.
style=> "We wanted it bad, and when the off-season
workouts started at the school, the other players started seeing that we want
it bad and that's when they started picking up and they want it, too.
style=> Everybody came together."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>As great as Smith was in the low block scoring, rebounding
and even stepping out for a three-point swish in the second half, maybe one of
his best plays came when he took a charge late in the first quarter when John
Marshall was in front. He wasn't the
only one doing that either; freshman
normal'>De'Monte Buckingham drew
one in the second period, and it was those types of plays that truly sparked
Henrico's fierce run.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We have to sacrifice our body.
style=> Every man has each other's back.
style=> If one man gets beat, step up and take a
charge. It's about helping each other
out," Jones noted.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Last year, we played for a state title and didn't get
it, we came up short. It was a failure
basically. That made us hungry and we're
fighting for that ring."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Henrico Head Basketball Coach
normal'>Vance Harmon likes the hustle plays by Smith, Jones, Talley,
Buckingham, Stephen Booker,
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>R.J. Moses and others.
style=> Drawing charges and getting it done on the
defensive end of the floor first and foremost makes Henrico successful, plus leads
to productivity on offense, where they are among the best in the state at
scoring, averaging 86 points per game.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It was awesome.
In fact, our assistant coach, Coach Atwell, was telling me to sit down
because I was going crazy with our guys taking charges, stepping up and it was
exciting," Harmon remarked.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"I was pumped up and I loved it when the guys get
jacked up to play defense like that, and offensively six guys with
double-figures. I thought the big court
really played into our advantage tonight because we were able to spread things
out and put the guards on display."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Next up for Henrico (7-0) is a date with fellow
unbeaten Benedictine on Saturday night at 8:30 PM at the VCU Siegel Center in
the Times-Dispatch Championship. Not
only is Benedictine one of the most stacked squads in the state, public or
private, but they've won the TDIT title three times since 2003.
style=> Henrico is seeking its first crown.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Regardless of the outcome, Harmon wants to use it as a
growth tool. The players aren't
satisfied with what they've done to this point, and feel the sky is the limit
as long as they continue to play with max effort.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We're just going to play hard, play defense, play
smart and play together," Smith said. "That's
all we have to do and the chips will fall where they fall.
style=> As long as we do those things, we'll have no
regrets."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
href="http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/914/1344352.WMA">Postgame Audio with
Henrico Coach Vance Harmon
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Stats:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Henrico
84:
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
Marvin Smith - - 21Pts. 9-16FG, 2-4FT, 14Reb. 3Stl.
Tim Jones - - 13Pts. 6-16FG, 5Ast. 3Stl.
De'Monte Buckingham - - 12Pts. 5-8FG, 1-5FT, 4Reb.
Stephen Booker - - 12Pts. 6-10FG, 6Reb. 3Blk.
Jordon Talley -- 10Pts. 4-12FG, 1-3 3's,
3Reb. 3Ast.
R.J. Moses - - 10Pts. 5-12FG, 3Reb. 2Ast. 2Stl.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>John
Marshall 66:
normal'>
Brian White - - 20Pts. 7-15FG, 6-8FT, 10Reb. 5Blk.
Quaman Burton - - 12Pts. 3-7FG, 5-6FT, 5Reb.
Gee Dean-McBride - - 11Pts. 3-13FG, 5-8FT, 5Reb. 5Ast.
Taqqui Muhammed - - 8Pts. 3-4FG,
2-2 3's, 2Reb. 3Blk.
Travis Boykin - - 6Pts. 3-7FG, 7Reb.
Dominique Terry - - 4Pts. 1-10FG, 10Reb. 2Ast.
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>
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