by GARFIELD, Ohio– A matchup between the two best teams in Northeast Ohio came down to the final buzzer, as the final shot for the Spartans bounced off the rim, falling 60-57 to the Bulldogs.
“They did a great job, there was just a short three at the end and only a couple of plays that sealed the game for us,” Richmond head coach Quentin Rogers said following the loss.
Garfield Heights got off to a fast start throughout the first half with sophomore Marcus Johnson controlling the pace of play, scoring a game-high 10 points in the first quarter alone. Bulldog senior forward Deandre Jones made his pretense felt in the paint as the Spartans couldn’t get much to fall near the rim early on.
Jones’ length and athleticism of the Bulldogs were a problem in the first quarter as the Bulldogs held a six-point lead.
However, the Spartans started to make a slew of runs throughout the second quarter, for which the Bulldogs didn’t have much of an answer. What was once a 24-17 Bulldog lead with six minutes left in the first half swiftly became the Spartan’s biggest advantage starting with Demaris Winters and DeErick Barber controlling the momentum near the rim.
The Spartans would end the final five minutes of the first half on a 14-5 run to take a 31-29 lead at halftime with a lot of their success coming from transition buckets.
“We needed to play our game and have a little more energy,” Rogers explained. “We needed t move, I think we started off flat.”
The second half was as expected, back-and-forth with both teams not trailing by more than five points the entire second half. Late in the fourth quarter, the Spartans committed a few turnovers that ended up becoming a difference-maker for the Bulldogs on the other end.
Trailing by four points with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs needed an answer to what the Spartans were throwing their way and that’s when sophomore guard Marcus Johnson came down and knocked down a pull-up 3-pointer to get his team within one.
“I feel like we came out together, we came out with energy,” Johnson said. “Our mindset was to go in there and play hard and that’s what we did.”
From there, the Spartans turned the ball over and that’s when senior Deandre Jones converted on an and-one layup on the other end, putting his team ahead 59-57 and from there, the Spartans were not able to score again.
“I thank my teammates, I couldn’t have done it without them trusting in me to get the ball and score and I thank them and the coaches for trusting in me,” Johnson said following the win, taking home the game’s MVP honors.
He ended the night with a game-high 29 points. Deandre Jones finished with 15 points as well to help lead the Bulldogs past the area’s No. 1 team. For the Spartans, Hosea Steele ended the night with a team-high 17 points along with 15 points from Demaris Winters.
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