CHARMCO, W.Va. — Defending Class A state champion James Monroe extended their wining streak to 11 games with an 82-38 triumph at Greenbrier West. The Mavericks never trailed and they remained perfect against in-class opponents this year.
JMHS (18-2) built an 11-7 lead in a slow-paced first quarter. With 1.7 seconds left in the opening frame, the Mavericks inbounded the ball near midcourt. Collin Fox banked in a 45-footer to give the Mavericks a 14-7 lead after the first eight minutes.
The Mavericks picked up the pace of play in the second quarter to build a 41-11 halftime lead. James Monroe scored the first seven and last 15 points in the frame.
“It all starts on the defensive end for us,” said James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage. “In the first quarter, it was a slower game for us. Part of it was what we were doing on the defensive end. We made a couple switches and we were able to speed it up. That’s always going to help our offensive side.”
The Mavericks extended their lead to 63-23 at the end of the third quarter before Sauvage began to mix younger players into the lineup in the final frame.
“We’re at the point in the season, and I told them that every play matters. It may not matter in the game score. But it is going to matter in how we finish our season. We want to finish strong and that is our goal.”
Fox lead all scorers with 20 points. Eli Allen scored 14 and Josh Burks added 11.
“Collin brings intangibles. The points are the thing I look at last with him. We’ll take the points, don’t get me wrong. But it is kind of like gravy. The defensive side of what he does and the rebounding and seeing the court the way he does, he’s a good player. Eli [Allen] is going to get a lot of attention. So he is able to feed off the opposite side of that, he and Josh [Burks] both.”
The Mavericks improved to 18-2. Their only two defeats have come against Class AAAA Beckley and Class AAA Shady Spring. Just two games remain on their regular season schedule.
“We played a lot of games early. I think we played the most games in the state for a little while. It has thinned out a lot here recently. It has been good for us. We had a couple minor injuries that we were able to heal from. We are back to a hundred percent now.”
Braydon McClung led the Cavaliers (8-13) with 11 points.