Laura Clark / Nelson County Times
Published: March 7, 2008

It became apparent through the first half that whichever team could establish a comfortable tempo to run its offense would be the team to break away. The two spent the first half learning each other's defensive weaknesses.

Chesterfield's size inside with a 2-3 zone kept Nelson out of the paint and on the perimeter. Against Nelson's man-to-man Jerrod Allen, a 6-foot-6 center, put back three Eagle misses in the second quarter. Chesterfield held a 24-21 lead at halftime.

"We'd seen them. They'd seen us," Gov coach Brandon Garrett said. "You can see a team 100 times but you don't know how you're going to match up with them."

Gov Mike Jones hit a 3-pointer to tie the game in the opening possession of the second half. T.J. Martin moved to the point guard position briefly, freeing up Thomas Brown to work the baseline. This set up an 11-0 run by Nelson.

"That caused them problems, because they were shutting down Thomas at the top," Garrett said. "T.J. knocked down a three. Thomas hit one. Then on the defensive end, Stevie (Washington) stepped in, took a huge charge."

In that span, Jones hit another three, and his brother Chris Jones put back a shot underneath, pump-faking to shake the taller defender. Patience began to pay off as the Govs found that they could play their style of offense and found seams in the Eagles' defense.

"We just did what worked best for us," Washington said. "I think (tempo) was very important for us. It helped us get motivated, and we just tried to come out after that and put them away."

Against the athletic Eagles, Nelson kept things slower than usual most of the game. As the Govs took the lead, they kept their composure while gaining confidence from a crowd that was 90 percent Nelson fans. The Eagles switched to man-to-man defense halfway through the third quarter, but this only gave Nelson's offense more opportunities.

"We knew it was state and when you get kind of scared, you get prone to make mistakes," said Brown, who scored a game-high 30 points and played with four fouls the entire fourth quarter. "We were being more patient, moving the ball around. Everybody was comfortable with the ball second half."

Eagle David Copeland came out firing in the fourth quarter, hitting three 3-pointers to cut the lead to 51-48 with 5:34 still to play. Nelson organized itself during the following timeout, and Garrett challenged the Govs' best defender, Mike Jones, to get in Copeland's face.

Copeland didn't hit another shot until the waning seconds. The Govs also asserted themselves on the boards, grabbing the defensive rebounds that forced Chesterfield to foul.

"They hurt us on the rebounds the first half, but I thought all in all those three guys (Washington, Cameron Coles and Trevor Martin) stepped up on the boards. (The) guards came in and got some big rebounds," Garrett said.

Brown hit four foul shots to pull away as the game passed the three minute mark. Then Nelson hit a dry spell, missing five free throws in a row. Brown then hit his next five, and T.J. Martin hit two with 12.3 seconds left.

The Govs (28-1) had one week to prepare for Chesterfield, and ultimately chose not to vary from what had gotten them to the state tournament in the first place.

"The team who plays smarter and plays more patient will win the game," Brown said. "That's what we had to do. We had to be more patient on defense, instead of going for steals because as soon as you go for a steal, they're going to come back real strong and give it to one of their big men. Offense, be more patient and get better shots, and it worked out for us in the second half."

Box score

Nelson 15 6 23 22 - 66

Chesterfield 13 11 13 24 - 61

Nelson (28-1): Brown 30, T.J. Martin 11, Mike Jones 8, Chris Jones 7, Cameron Coles 4, Steve Washington 1

Chesterfield (21-6): David Copeland 15, Jerrod Allen 12, Kirk Able 10, Jerrod House 8, David Perry 4, Juhuan Robinson 4, Cori Grant 2, Sherrod Allen 2, Brejon Cox 2, Clarence Hextal 2

Three-point goals: (N) T.J. Martin 3, Mike Jones 2, Trevor Martin 1, Thomas Brown 1; (C) David Copeland 5, Kirk Able 1

Highlights: Jerrod Allen 9 rebounds, Sherrod Allen 2 blocks, Chris Jones 2 steals

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