Cooley, McKie propel John Marshall to victory

John Marshall is the top team in the Colonial District. For now. By the skin of its teeth.

The Justices, ranked No. 3 in The Times-Dispatch Top 10, defended their home court and defeated second-ranked Douglas Freeman 84-80 last night before a crowd that grew to capacity (800) after a 5 p.m. tipoff.

Quantae Cooley staked John Marshall to a lead it never gave up by outscoring the Rebels 10-3 in the first three minutes. What followed were minutes of superlative basketball, brilliant shooting and poor shot selection, pretty assists and bad passes, 42 fouls and so-so shooting from the foul line, two technicals on the Douglas Freeman bench and several why-did-he-do-that mistakes.

"I think both teams were so excited, and there was so much energy," Douglas Freeman senior Jake Eastman said. "It was a good atmosphere."

Cooley ripped apart Douglas Freeman's game plan to let him shoot and concentrate more on containing All-Metro first-teamer Travis McKie, guard Randall Ward and center Maurice Johnson. Cooley scored 12 points, including two 3-pointers, in the first quarter, which ended with JM ahead 25-17. Cooley cooled some in the middle two quarters but added six crucial points in the final quarter and finished with 22.

"That's the problem. Everybody on this team is a player. Everybody steps up. When I wasn't hitting shots and they were playing me tight, Quantae, Randall, Maurice, everybody stepped up to play big in this game," McKie said. "We needed this win to stay on top of the district.

McKie scored a game-high 29 points. He also had 10 rebounds and three steals and sank the two free throws that sealed the victory with 3.7 seconds remaining. Ward and Johnson contributed 14 points each. Ward also had six assists.

The Justices are the reigning Central Region and Colonial District champions. They haven't lost to a Colonial foe the past two seasons and have beaten the Rebels four times in a row.

"We know it's going to be even harder when we play them at Freeman," McKie said. "We can't celebrate. We have to build on this and continue to get better as a team."

The Rebels fell behind by 11 points when Ward drilled a 3-pointer to start the second quarter, but they held JM to seven more points and closed to a point down at the break on a follow shot by massive reserve Jamail Tucker, who scored seven of his nine points in the quarter.

The Justices pushed the lead back to 10 through three quarters. The Rebels, led by Phillip Rohrer, who scored 12 of his 16 points, rang up 32 points in the last eight minutes. Eastman (15 points) was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in the game and made two of the three free throws to cut Douglas Freeman's deficit to two points.

"We fell behind early, but battled back, and we still had our chances," Douglas Freeman coach Larry Parpart said. "Every district game is big. It's tough losing one."

Josh Brinkley paced the Rebels with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Justin Mann added 13, all in the second half.

John Marshall coach Frank Threatts Jr. was happy with the way the Justices responded to the Rebels' challenges.

"They knew from the beginning it was going to be one of those tough ballgames. Every time Freeman would catch up, they wouldn't let them get ahead. It was very sloppy in the fourth quarter. We were just hoping the time would run out."

DOUGLAS FREEMAN (6-1, 11-2)

Eastman 15, Mann 13, Smalley 0, N. Turner 0, Smith 0, O'Connor 5, Giles 4, Rohrer 16, Brinkley 18, Tucker 9. Totals 28 16-28 80.
JOHN MARSHALL (6-0, 10-1)

Ward 14, M. Johnson 14, Cooley 22, Johnson 0, McKie 29, Brown 3, Braxton 2. Totals 31 18-31 84.
Douglas Freeman ------------------------- 17 17 14 32 -- 80
John Marshall ------------------------- 25 10 23 26 -- 84

3-point goals: DF -- Mann 3, Eastman 2, Rohrer 2, O'Connor. JM -- Ward 2, Cooley 2.