Coming to a close
One of Rockets greatest seasons ends with loss to Jeannette
McMURRAY 鈥� One of Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 finest boys basketball seasons came to a close in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A tournament Wednesday night.
The Rockets were trying to become the first team in program history to win two state playoff games but WPIAL runner-up Jeannette made it clear early on in a season of goals set and met, J-M would come up short of reaching this final one.
Markus McGowan poured in 13 of his game-high 26 points in the first quarter, including three of his four 3-pointers, as the Jayhawks raced to an early 19-point lead on their way to a convincing 68-36 victory at Peters Township High School鈥檚 AHN Arena.
Jeannette improved to 24-2 and advanced to Saturday鈥檚 quarterfinals against District 10 champion Mercyhurst Prep.
Jefferson-Morgan ended with a 24-4 record in a season where it set a program record for wins in a season, and snapped several long droughts along the way. The Rockets claimed their first section title since 2001, and won their first WPIAL and PIAA playoff games since 2000.
鈥淣obody can take away the memories we made this year as a true team,鈥� J-M coach Brandon Lawless said. 鈥淲e set out and did what we said we were going to do, and more.鈥�
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 postseason saw it win a first-round WPIAL game before falling in the semifinals, split a pair of consolation games and then go 1-1 in PIAA play. It entered the state playoffs as the sixth seed out of the WPIAL.
Jeannette took control from the start.
After the Rockets鈥� John Woodward answered a basket by the Jayhawks鈥� Jayce Powell, Jeannette reeled off the next 18 points to take a commanding 20-2 lead.
Triton Farabee scored to snap the run for J-M and Woodward countered a 3-pointer by Jeannette鈥檚 McAlister Steele with one of his own to make it 23-7 after one quarter.
McGowan and Powell opened the second quarter with consecutive 3-pointers and Xavier Odorisio-Farrow made one of two foul shots to give the Jayhawks a 32-7 advantage.
Miles Sowden hit a trey and Woodward made one of two from the line to get Jefferson-Morgan within 32-11 with 3:49 left in the quarter but Jeannette would score the final eight points of the half to take a 40-11 lead into intermission.
To make matters worse for the Rockets, they weren鈥檛 at full strength for much of the opening two quarters.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 really help not having Dayten (Marion) or Jeremiah (Robertson) out there at their usual capabilities,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淒ayten was fighting the flu all day long. He probably wasn鈥檛 60 or even 50 percent. Jeremiah in the first quarter had his lip split open. I think he caught an elbow on a loose ball or something like that, but we didn鈥檛 get him back out there until the second half. He might need some stitches.
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying that we win the game or anything along those lines at all, Jeannette was clearly the better team regardless, but it definitely didn鈥檛 help us. Things are a little more crisp for us when we have them both out there and healthy.鈥�
Robertson was back out on the floor in the third quarter after a scoreless first half and notched seven points in the frame, yet still the Jayhawks鈥� lead grew to 36 twice and it was at 58-26 heading into the fourth.
The Rockets never quit fighting and opened the fourth quarter with an eight-point burst on six points from Robertson and two from Woodward to slice the gap to 58-34 and actually forced Jayhawks coach Adrian Batts to call a timeout.
鈥淛eremiah toughened through it and came back pretty strong in the second half,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淔or the most part I was really pleased with the effort from everybody. They didn鈥檛 quit.鈥�
Robertson wound up with a team-high 15 points and Woodward followed with 12 for J-M.
Farrow followed McGowan in the Jayhawks鈥� scoring column with 13 points and Powell wound up with 10.
鈥淚鈥檇 say that鈥檚 the best team we鈥檝e played all year,鈥� Lawless said of Jeannette. 鈥淭hey scored the most points on us, that鈥檚 for sure. They鈥檙e a pretty physical basketball team and they played pretty hard defensively.
鈥淲e let them attack us defensively rather than us attacking them and getting downhill. We let them put the pressure on us. Usually we do a good job of handling that, so that鈥檚 hats off to them for what they did on defense to us.鈥�
Lawless commended his players after the game, especially senior starters Robertson, Marion, Woodward, Brayden Ellsworth and Jaymison Robinson.
鈥淚 pretty much just told them I鈥檓 going to miss them. They鈥檙e awesome players, awesome people,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e given me a great last four years and I鈥檝e got nothing but love for them. I know that they鈥檙e going to be great in life because they all soaked up their roles so well.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a 1,000-point scorer on my team but I have a 24-win team and that speaks volumes to the unselfish way they played, buying into the process and doing it every day. I thanked them for everything because I鈥檝e grown as a human being as much as they鈥檝e grown into young men along the way.鈥�
Lawless cited the Rockets鈥� Section 3-2A finale at Chartiers-Houston, a gutsy 38-36 victory, as his squad鈥檚 defining moment.
鈥淚t came down to that final game, are you section champs or not, and they came through and earned it,鈥� Lawless said. 鈥淭hen everything started to go hand-in-hand. They got a playoff win for the first time in 26 years, they broke the wins record, they won a state playoff game for just the second time.
鈥淚t just speaks to the character of these guys and the work effort they have. I told them since they were freshmen they could be section champions, win playoff games and compete with the best, and they fulfilled that promise. I was grateful for the chance to coach them. Groups like this don鈥檛 come around very often at a small public school like ours.
鈥淲e had a great ride.鈥�