Governors streak to win
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Chris Humphreys / Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: March 8, 2008
basketball quarterfinals Saturday.
Scoring just 21 points in the first 16 minutes, Nelson County made six of its first seven shots, including three 3-pointers, to spark a 16-2 third-quarter run that lasted four minutes and 20 seconds and gave the Governors a 37-26 lead.
"(At halftime) we talked about how we were a much better team than had been playing," Nelson County coach Brandon Garrett said. "We made a few adjustments. (Assistant coach Travis Roger) suggested moving Thomas Brown off the point a little bit to the wing so he could get to the bucket a little easier.
"We put Mike Jones up top and we moved the ball around, got in our spots, knocked down some open shots and got to the bucket a couple of times. It worked out perfect."
Jones, T.J. Martin and Brown hit 3-pointers and Brown did find more room on the wing, penetrating the zone a couple of times for a layup and a three-point play.
"We were more patient," said Brown, the Governors' senior guard. "Our shots in the first could have fallen but we were two passes or one pass and shoot. (In the second half) we were looking at the basket, squaring up, getting ready shoot and passing the ball. We were just more patient."
With the win, the Governors (28-1) advance to Wednesday's Group AA state semifinals in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"Everybody played really well," Garrett said. "(I'm really looking forward) to the whole experience and I'm just really happy for the kids."
The Eagles finish the season with a 21-6 record.
"Nelson County played good defense and we have certainly played better than we did, but now is not the time to not play your best," Chesterfield coach Toby Campbell said. "They got the crowd going and the momentum and it's hard to play from behind with them."
The Eagles switched to a man-to-man defense after Nelson's surge, but it backfired, opening the court for the Brown to do what he does best - get to the foul line.
"I was somewhat relieved when they switched to the man-to-man," Garrett said. "We do a pretty good job against the zone but we don't see a lot of it in our district. It allowed us to go to our man-to-man motion offense and delay the game a little too."
Brown sealed the game from the foul line in the fourth quarter. He made 11 of his 12 attempted free throws in the final eight minutes and hit 17 of 20 for the game. Brown finished with 30 points, four rebounds and four assists.
"My teammates give me a lot of confidence (to shoot free throws) even without saying anything to me but just by getting me the ball. They aren't going to give it to someone who can't make them. They are saying, 'Thomas, knock these (free throws) down' and I got them."
Nelson County never trailed after landing the third-quarter knockdown punch.
T.J. Martin finished with 11 points, 4 assists and 4rebounds for Nelson and Mike Jones had 8 points, 4 steals and 2 assists.
for Nelson County.
"I can't wait to go to Richmond," Brown said. "It feels great. We are going to be going against a pretty good team but if we go with our game plan we can beat anybody."
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