by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond
slewis@digitalsports.com
(804) 240-2191
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In preseason, on paper, the Colonial District looked like a cakewalk for John Marshall.
Some cakewalk it was Tuesday night.
The Douglas Freeman Rebels pulled even with the heavy district favorite with under 30 seconds remaining in the contest.
But a Tahir Little free throw and a Travis McKie putback ended their upset bid as Jayem, ranked second in the latest DigitalSports Top 10, survived 58-55.
Down six points, Freeman’s Semir Sucic hit his fourth and fifth 3-pointers with under a minute left as the Justices inexplicably left him wide open in their 2-3 zone defense.
“We made some mistakes on defense,” Justices coach Frank Threatts said. “Big mistakes. He wasn’t supposed to be as open as he was. But that’s the way it happens sometimes.”
Said Justices sixth man Devonte Payne: “It was scary. We’ve got to work on defense at practice tomorrow, especially when we’re playing against people with shooters.”
Both teams had lights-out shooting nights, especially in the first half where Philip Rohrer put in 18 of his game-high 24 points to continue his terrific senior campaign for Freeman.
McKie, who had a team-high 21 points, had 13 in the first half but passed out of double and triple teams to find Payne and Mangum, who drilled five 3-pointers in the game’s first half as JM led 36-31 at the break.
“We work on 3-pointers all the time,” said Payne, who dropped in 11 off the pine. “We’ve got to hit shots, because they’re going to get it in inside. When they kick it out we’ve got to knock down outside shots.”
That’s what Sucic did all second half, throwing in four 3-pointers in the second half alone, three in the fourth quarter on his way to 17 points and Freeman on its way to an upset.
“We just wanted to get after them earlier and that’s what we did,” Rohrer said. “We battled back and thought we had it. We just came up a little short, again.”
Perhaps Threatts said it best for both teams.
“We were looking for a win any way we got it.”
John Marshall 17 19 10 12 – 58
Doug. Freeman 17 14 11 13 – 55
JM (9-1): Payne 11, Mangum 7, Little 9, McKie 21, Lampkin 6, Mundin 2, Conyers 2. Totals: 21 10-15 58. 3-point goals: Payne 3, Mangum 2, McKie.
DF (7-5): Sucic 17, Mann 6, O’Connor 4, Turner 2, Hudgins 0, Janney 0, Rohrer 24, Smith 2. Totals: 22 5-8 55. 3-point goals: Sucic 5, Rohrer.
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