Laura Clark / Nelson County Times
Published: February 12, 2008

Against Chatham on Feb. 5, Nelson trailed by seven at the end of the first quarter. One of the senior captains, Thomas Brown, said the team turned up the intensity and took the lead to win 81-57 by looking back at a tough summer.

"Gosh, we had games Thursday, Friday, Saturday. A couple times we had three games in one day," Brown said. "Everybody's like, 'I can't believe we did that.' Then we come to the games and the other team scores five points without us scoring. We're like, 'We didn't work all summer just for this. We didn't bust our butt. Let's go, let's turn it up.'"

The Govs got past the only loss so far (to Altavista) by proving themselves against Chatham, Rustburg and William Campbell. Coach Brandon Garrett said the team learned they were unbeatable, and treated the loss as if it was a championship game.

As the Govs wrap up the final week of the regular season, with senior night Feb. 15 at home against Dan River, Garrett is making few changes but emphasizing defense.

"We're still working on getting a little backside help because we're so small. We'd rather a team beat us by shooting jump shots than taking layups. Anybody can make a layup, but not anybody can make a jump shot," Garrett said.

Garrett said he's confident in the offense, as long as Nelson doesn't rush shots. He may add a few more set plays.

The Govs rely on eight main players. In addition to starters Brown, Chris Jones, Mike Jones, T.J. Martin and Stevie Washington, look for Trevor Hall, Cameron Coles and Trey Barnett to come of the bench and contribute.

"Trevor stepped up this year. Cameron stepped up. Both have had double-figure games, rebound the ball well and are good defenders. Defensive side (Barnett) can play with anybody," Garrett said.

Nelson's toughest opponent in the tournament would be Altavista. The two teams split in the regular season, each winning on its home court. Nelson and Altavista will play at Appomattox at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 to determine the Dogwood District season champion and rights to the first seed in the tournament.

"I think we match up with them pretty well, we just need to know who we're guarding. There's guys we can step off a little bit, some we need to play closer to," Garrett said.

The team is playing well together, and Garrett said the guys' close friendships transfer onto the floor, crediting the offseason, like Brown, for the team's continued success.

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