Coming to a close
One of Rockets greatest seasons ends with loss to Jeannette
McMURRAY — One of Jefferson-Morgan’s 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’s AHN Arena.
Jeannette improved to 24-2 and advanced to Saturday’s 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.
“Nobody can take away the memories we made this year as a true team,” J-M coach Brandon Lawless said. “We set out and did what we said we were going to do, and more.”
Jefferson-Morgan’s 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’ John Woodward answered a basket by the Jayhawks’ 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’s 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’t at full strength for much of the opening two quarters.
“It didn’t really help not having Dayten (Marion) or Jeremiah (Robertson) out there at their usual capabilities,” Lawless said. “Dayten was fighting the flu all day long. He probably wasn’t 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’t get him back out there until the second half. He might need some stitches.
“I’m 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’t help us. Things are a little more crisp for us when we have them both out there and healthy.”
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’ 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.
“Jeremiah toughened through it and came back pretty strong in the second half,” Lawless said. “For the most part I was really pleased with the effort from everybody. They didn’t quit.”
Robertson wound up with a team-high 15 points and Woodward followed with 12 for J-M.
Farrow followed McGowan in the Jayhawks’ scoring column with 13 points and Powell wound up with 10.
“I’d say that’s the best team we’ve played all year,” Lawless said of Jeannette. “They scored the most points on us, that’s for sure. They’re a pretty physical basketball team and they played pretty hard defensively.
“We 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’s hats off to them for what they did on defense to us.”
Lawless commended his players after the game, especially senior starters Robertson, Marion, Woodward, Brayden Ellsworth and Jaymison Robinson.
“I pretty much just told them I’m going to miss them. They’re awesome players, awesome people,” Lawless said. “They’ve given me a great last four years and I’ve got nothing but love for them. I know that they’re going to be great in life because they all soaked up their roles so well.
“I don’t 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’ve grown as a human being as much as they’ve grown into young men along the way.”
Lawless cited the Rockets’ Section 3-2A finale at Chartiers-Houston, a gutsy 38-36 victory, as his squad’s defining moment.
“It came down to that final game, are you section champs or not, and they came through and earned it,” Lawless said. “Then 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.
“It 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’t come around very often at a small public school like ours.
“We had a great ride.”