John Marshall beats Wakefield, will play Henrico in final

John Marshall beats Wakefield, will play Henrico in final - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Boys

BY ERIC KOLENICH | Richmond Times-Dispatch
The two schools are separated by one and a half miles and a city boundary. John Marshall High School occupies the northern tip of Richmond, while Henrico High is a few neighborhoods over in the adjacent county.

They’re two schools rich in basketball talent. And on Friday, they’ll play for a third and final time to determine the Group AAA state championship. That much was assured when John Marshall defeated Wakefield 66-46 in the semifinals Monday night. Henrico did its part by beating W.T. Woodson earlier in the day.


“They know us; we know them,” John Marshall coach Ty White said. “It’s going to come down to who’s the tougher team.”

Gerard Dean-McBride continued his postseason tear, scoring 26 points. In his past five games, Dean is averaging 20.4 points per game. Wakefield (25-6) often left the lane open for him, so he zipped his way to the basket, going over, under and around the arms of his defenders.

As of late, the Justices (26-5) have tried to shoot fewer 3s and score more in the lane. They got 36 points in the paint and were 4-10 from behind the arc. Brian White, the Colonial District player of the year who has given a pledge to The Citadel, added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

John Marshall led the whole game. In the fourth quarter, Wakefield mustered only nine points as the Justices’ lead stretched to 20. Wakefield coach Tony Bentley unloaded the bench in the final minute.

The Justices forced the Warriors to take longs shots away from the basket. And Wakefield couldn’t get in a rhythm that way. Wakefield converted 17 of 58 from the floor (29.3 percent).

“We took too many jump shots,” Wakefield coach Tony Bentley said. “We didn’t get here by shooting a lot of jump shots. Tonight we felt like we were a jump shooting team and we weren’t successful doing that tonight.”
Khory Moore led Wakefield with 22 points. Dominique Tham added 10. The Norther Region runner-up, the Arlington-based team reached the semifinals by beating Mountain View in the first round.

“We didn’t play our best basketball,” Ty White said. “That being said, we held a very good team to 46 points.”

There has never been an all-Central Region state final, though the region got close in recent years. It also will be the last all-Central Region final. In September, the VHSL will realign. Starting next year, Henrico and John Marshall will pursue separate championships.

Henrico is 2-0 against John Marshall this season, winning the Times-Dispatch Invitational Tournament semifinals and the Central Region final.

“They got the better of us two times,” Ty White said. “The most important thing is that it only takes one.”
 

John Marshall 66, Great Bridge 55 - Richmond Times-Dispatch: High-school

John Marshall 66, Great Bridge 55 - Richmond Times-Dispatch: High-school

John Marshall 66, Great Bridge 55

JOHN MARSHALL (25-5): Broadus 3, Dean-McBride 23, Muhammad 3, McRae 2, White 33, Williams 2. Totals 18 29-32 66.

GREAT BRIDGE (25-4): Madison 12, Evans 15, Williams 14, Ferguson 3, Sadler 5, Bienlien 6. Totals 18 15-23 55.

Halftime: Great Bridge, 33-26.

3-point goals: Muhammad, Madison, Evans, Williams 2.

Hard work pays off for John Marshall’s Brian White

At his last school, Brian White lived in a dormitory at Independence Golf Club, hit the gym right after breakfast and took all his classes online. For one season, he was part of the basketball team at SportsQuest, the all-inclusive but short-lived athletics complex in Chesterfield County.

When the program shut down about a year ago after its first and only season, he moved with his mom to Richmond and enrolled at John Marshall. His team plays Great Bridge in the Group AAA state tournament Friday.


“I was a little disappointed, because it was a program that was going to keep going and get better each year,” White said.

SportsQuest fielded a team with some of the area’s best talent and opposed postgraduate teams, private schools and even public-school Meadowbrook. On the roster with White were Highland Springs freshman Curt Jones and L.C. Bird sophomore Marsellis Purvis. When the season was over, the team’s record was near .500, White said.

The team spent four hours a day running, lifting and practicing. And White, a 6-foot-7 forward, benefited from the extra work. He got better in practically every aspect of the game — ballhandling, rebounding, shooting, he said. Now as a senior at John Marshall, he averages 20 points and was named Colonial District player of the year.

“He’s a lot more versatile,” John Marshall coach Ty White said. “He’s both an inside and outside threat.”
Mike Davis, the coach of the SportsQuest team who now operates a training program called Three Point Line Sports, said White’s work ethic elevated his game.

“He was one of my best workers,” Davis said. “He did anything we ever asked him to do. Just a phenomenal kid.”

After breakfast, the team practiced and trained for about two hours in the morning. Next came class, then the day was wrapped up with two more hours of practice in the afternoon, according to Davis. Such extensive workouts could take a physical toll on his players.

“It’s physically and mentally grueling,” Davis said. “And he got through it with flying colors.”
While learning the curriculum on a computer required some adjustment, he got all A’s and B’s in his classes, he said. Though he took his classes online at Clover Hill High School, there were teachers who helped.
But money was an issue for SportsQuest. The students had to leave Clover Hill when teachers there stopped getting paid. Soon after the season ended, Steve Burton, the founder of the operation, told the kids the program would fold. Within a week, White was back home.

“It kind of crumbled,” Davis said.

During the summer, playing with his AAU squad, Team Loaded, White picked up about 10 scholarship offers. He ultimately decided on The Citadel because it wanted him the most. He expects to fit in with its style, which relies on forwards, he said.

When he joined the John Marshall team, he elevated it to one of the area’s best. The Justices qualified for the state tournament, but fell to Henrico in the Central Region title game.

“Making states is a big deal in this city,” White said. “We fell short of the regional championship, and that really hurt. But we’re back at it, and we’ve got a chance to win states.”

BY ERIC KOLENICH Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
Hard work pays off for John Marshall’s Brian White - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Boys Basketball

Henrico tops John Marshall to win Central Region final

JOHN MARSHALL (24-5) — Dean 8, Muhammed 6, McRae 5, Burton 13, White 6, Broaddus 12, Sheppard 0, Terry 0, Lampkin 0, Boykin 1, Williams 0. Totals 19 8-13 51.

HENRICO (27-2) — Smith 20, Jones 9, Talley 6, Buckingham 13, Booker 6, Pearson 0, Towner 2, Moses 2. Totals 22 12-17 58.

J. Marshall 14 10 12 15 — 51
Henrico 12 17 15 14 — 58

3-point goals — JM: Broaddus 3, Burton, McRae; H: Smith, Buckingham.

Henrico tops John Marshall to win Central Region final - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Boys

John Marshall boys top Armstrong to reach region final

John Marshall boys top Armstrong to reach region final - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Boys

Dean-McBride, White lead John Marshall over Highland Springs

NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News, Weather, Traffic

 The first time guard Gerard Dean-McBride saw forward Brian White shooting hoops in the John Marshall High School gymnasium, the guard was overwhelmed with excitement.


“My face blew up like I saw a new pair of Jordans,” Dean-McBride said.


The two knew each other, having played on different age groups for the AAU squad Team Loaded. But never had Dean-McBride imagined that White would transfer to John Marshall and play side by side with him.
The guard’s game has grown tremendously because of White. On Tuesday night in the Central Region quarterfinals, Dean-McBride benefited from White’s presence, scoring 25 points and leading the Justices to a 76-55 win over Highland Springs.

John Marshall (23-4) will play Armstrong in the semifinals Thursday at the Siegel Center. The Springers (17-10) were bounced from the region playoffs by the Justices for the second straight season.

With the Springers’ defense focusing on White, the Colonial District player of the year who joined the Justices after a one-year stint at SportsQuest, the lane was left open for Dean-McBride to surge to the basket. White tacked on 20 points, and Jay Broaddus knocked down a pair of 3s to finish with 14 points.

“All of us have weaknesses, and all of us have strong points,” Dean-McBride said. “When you add us together, it’s like a mixture. We can’t be stopped.”

Last year, Dean-McBride considered himself only a facilitator to other players on the court. Now the point guard sees himself as multifaceted, able to do whatever the team needs.

The relationship between the guard and the forward extends off the court, too. They share two classes, and White often helps Dean-McBride study.

“He’s like my big brother,” Dean-McBride said. “He’ll never let me fail.”

With the ball being spread around, John Marshall took an 18-5 lead early in the second quarter and never looked back. Highland Springs never got the margin closer than 10 points.

“We’re not good enough individually for any one player to win the game himself,” Justices coach Ty White said. “Anyone, any night. That’s our mindset.”

C.J. Wiggins led the Springers with 16 points. Curt Jones, a freshman who played along side White last year at SportsQuest, had 15. The Springers managed only four field goals in the first half.

John Marshall mixed up its defensive sets, switching between its 1-2-2 zone and man-to-man nearly every timeout.

“You can’t stay in anything too long, or they’ll get in a rhythm,” Ty White said. “(Defense) is the focus the remainder of this year. Just having a defensive mindset for 32 minutes.”


HIGHLAND SPRINGS (17-10) — C. Jones 15, Gaston 7, Wiggins 16, Carter 2, Stovall 5, R. Jones 10, English 0. Totals 19 12-17 55.

JOHN MARSHALL (23-4) — Dean-McBride 25, White 20, Broaddus 14, Williams 2, Sheppard 2, McCrae 7, Burton 2, Lampkin 2, Meade 2, Waller 0, Muhammad 0. Totals 30 13-20 76.

H. Springs 5 13 14 23 — 55
J. Marshall 13 22 18 23 — 76

3-point goals — HS: Wiggins 3, C. Jones 2; JM: Broaddus 2, McCrae.

BY ERIC KOLENICH
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Dean-McBride, White lead John Marshall over Highland Springs - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Boys: