Down 15 at half, MHS JVs rally past Mathews
by Tom Hardin
The Middlesex JV boys basketball team was excited to play at arch-rival Mathews in front of a near capacity crowd last Friday night.
Maybe too excited.
The JV Chargers stumbled out of the gate and remained flat throughout the first half. They trailed 28-13 at intermission.
“We couldn’t get shots to drop and we couldn’t get stops on defense,” said MHS coach Jamie Somerville.
In the “dead silent” locker room at the half, Somerville told his team to forget about the scoreboard and “get out there and play hard and play with pride.”
The coach’s speech worked.
The JV Chargers hit the floor in the second half with new energy. They pressed full court and forced Mathews into numerous turnovers, which resulted in easy baskets for Middlesex.
Middlesex guard Sean Johnson got the rally going with a 3-pointer to open the second half and cut the Mathews lead to 28-16.
“When Sean hit that shot it felt like a weight came off our shoulders,” said Somerville. “Little by little we began to cut into their lead and Mathews was beginning to panic under our pressure.”
With 1:40 to play the Chargers trailed 45-43 but couldn’t get the tying shot to fall.
With 50 seconds to play, Middlesex’s D’Angelo King got fouled while pulling down a rebound. King coolly went to the free throw line and sank both ends of the one-and-one to tie the game 45-45.
Middlesex then got a stop on defense and went into its four corners delay game on offense—waiting for the final shot. Freshman point guard Marquez Holmes was fouled with 25 seconds remaining and he made one of two free throws and the Chargers went home with a 46-45 win.
The star of the game for Middlesex was speedy Zebulon Burrell. After going scoreless in the first half, Burrell exploded for 14 second half points.
Holmes had 12 points and handled the ball well, King had 9 points, S. Johnson 5, Greg Robinson 4 and Chris Blake 1.
“This game was huge for us,” said Somerville. “We definitely found our identity. We have positive energy going and feel better about ourselves.
The Chargers (2-1, 3-7) lost 49-46 to a good Lancaster team on Tuesday, January 17, and played Northumberland on January 18 (more details next week).
They will play at West Point on Friday, January 20, and will host King William on Friday, January 27.
JV games begin at 6 p.m. and varsity games follow at 7:30 p.m.
