Boys basketball: Thurgood Marshall tops CJ to reach district finals

Anthony McComb and his Thurgood Marshall teammates have played 23 games since an overtime loss to Chaminade Julienne on Dec. 3. He did not need to be reminded of that loss this week.

When the Cougars won a second-round Division II sectional game Wednesday, the rematch was set. “Revenge,” was the first word out of McComb’s mouth. The Cougars lost an 18-point lead in the first meeting, and they were determined to not let that happen again.

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This time the Cougars led by as many as 14 in the first half, six at halftime and poured it on the second half for a 57-35 victory.

“It was revenge,” McComb said. “We played with fire the whole game. We wanted it so bad. We’re one more step closer to our dream of cutting the net and making it to state.”

The Cougars (18-7) face Cincinnati Hughes at the University of Cincinnati at 7:15 p.m. Friday in a district final, which is where their season ended last year against eventual state champion Trotwood-Madison. The Cougars beat Hughes 68-64 in Cincinnati on Dec. 18. Hughes has since lost its tallest player to injury, so the Cougars might actually be the taller of the two teams when they meet.

Either way they don’t care. McComb, who scored 24 points, is 6-foot-2, but most of the time the other players on the court are between 5-10 and 6-0 and they score, rebound and defend like Prophet Johnson did with 12 points and Chanze Amerson did with 11. They rely on being the quicker team.

“We have a bunch of kids with big hearts and they want to win,” Marshall coach Shawn McCullough said. “So size for us doesn’t really matter.”

The Cougars made sure of that this time against CJ (12-13). In the first meeting, CJ’s 6-6 Daniel Nauseef scored 27 points, so the Cougars changed their strategy. They started Kamari Williams and continued to run different players at Nauseef. When he or 6-4 Larry Turner touched the ball inside they double-teamed them. Nauseef still led the Eagles in scoring, but this time it was only 14 points.

“That unbelievable quickness they have they were on the ball and they were swarming,” first-year CJ coach Charlie Szabo said. “Last game our inside advantage worked. This time they did a really good job negating it.”

CJ played zone in an attempt to negate Marshall’s quickness. And while it was effective at times, the Eagles didn’t take advantage when they stopped the Cougars from scoring. Forced to shoot more from outside, the Eagles failed to make a 3-pointer.

“They were the better team tonight,” Szabo said. “Give them credit. They’re scoring in the 50s and that’s more the game we want to play. We didn’t hit shots tonight.”

The Eagles trailed 37-24 in the third quarter and didn’t come out of the zone while Marshall held the ball the final two minutes. Mekhi Elmore hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left for a 40-24 lead. The Eagles had to play man-to-man in the fourth, and the result was what Szabo feared as the lead grew.

“They’re very hard to guard man,” he said. “They’ve got a lot more footspeed than us. When we have to come out and guard them man we’re at a disadvantage.”

Playing small, being aggressive in a full-court press and attacking the basket against bigger players is the game plan McCullough has been selling his team for four years.

“They play hard and the want to win,” he said. “There’s a grit.”

Szabo talked about how hard the Cougars played, and McCullough said that drive comes from the team’s culture.

“We tell each other we love each other every day,” he said. “It’s a true family. When practice is over, we all circle up, grab hands and we say a prayer. And in the huddles, it’s ‘1-2-3 — love.’”

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