By Ted Allen

Published: March 17, 2008

RICHMOND — Nelson County’s boys basketball team ended the season the way it started it — on a 15-game winning streak.
The 30th victory was the sweetest by far for the Governors, who captured their first state championship in school history with a 50-47 victory over Surry County in Saturday’ Group A, Division 1, final.
“It’s a big step as a program, a school and a community,” Nelson second-year coach Brandon Garrett said. “We hadn’t even won a regional game before this season.”
The Governors (30-1), whose only loss came at Altavista, a Group A state semifinalist last year, rose to the occasion before a near-capacity crowd at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“We had to climb a real high mountain,” said Nelson senior point guard Thomas Brown, who led all scorers with 16 points. “We had to beat a lot of real good teams on the road.”
The atmosphere in the Siegel Center was spirit-filled, with fans from Lovingston clad in a sea of gold and green. They erupted in delirious cheers as Nelson freshman Trever Martin inbounded the ball with 2.2 seconds left and the Governors broke Surry’s press to seal the triumph, and start the celebration near Nelson’s bench.
“We were anticipating a big crowd,” Garrett said. “We have grown used to a big following and tremendous support. They’re our sixth man. Our band is great, but nothing else can pump us up like our fans. They’re a big part of us.”
Spurred on by the emotional support, Nelson seemed to thrive in the spotlight of the state final stage, shaking off a sub-par performance in Wednesday’s semifinal win and opening a 15-7 advantage after the first quarter.
But the lead changed six times in the second half, with Surry’s John Newman sinking a jumper and hitting two free throws after being fouled on a putback of his own miss to give the Cougars their largest lead, 30-27, early in the third quarter.
Mike Jones ignited the Governors’ bench and sparked a key 9-0 scoring spurt by knocking down a hanging banker from the left of the lane despite contact and completing the three-point play. Younger brother Chris Jones capped the run moments later with a strong driving layup on the left baseline for a 36-30 advantage.
“It was a great ball game,” Surry first-year coach Landon Pittman said. “We got down early and had to fight really hard to get back into it.”
“We played hard, (but) they played hard, too, I guess even harder,” added Cougars forward Trent Porter, who scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds.
Newman, son of former NBA player Johnny Newman, finished with 14 points, one less than teammate Vincent Batten, who missed a potentially tying 3-pointer from the left wing in the final three seconds of the fourth quarter.
Nelson’s four starting seniors — Brown, T.J. Martin (14), Mike Jones (10) and Chris Jones (six) — accounted for 46 of its 50 points, with Brown grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
As it had in a state quarterfinal win over Chesterfield Community, Nelson held its own against a bigger, stronger team. Surry attacked the basket, but wasn’t able to draw enough fouls or finish enough of its shots, shooting a dismal 17-for-57 (30 percent) from the field.
“We took tough shots and they just weren’t falling for us,” Newman said.
“They were good defensively up top, putting pressure on the ball,” Pittman added.
Nelson only collected 12 fouls as a team, with Mike Jones picking up a team-high three.
“The referees let us play,” Garrett said.
The Governors were out-rebounded 41-33 by the thicker Cougars, but got some critical boards from Steve Washington, both Martins and Mike Jones.
“We challenged our guys to step up and be strong on the boards and they did a good job,” Garrett said. “Steve came up big and Cameron (Coles) and Trever (Martin) came in and (helped out).”
Trever Martin ended the third-quarter scoring by gathering the rebound of a 3-point miss by Brown and swishing a 15-foot turnaround at the buzzer, extending Nelson’s lead to 40-33.
Neither team scored for a four-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter after Surry shifted to a zone defense and Nelson ran its motion offense and worked the clock, protecting a three-point lead.
With 30 seconds left, Brown all but iced the victory by stealing the ball from Cougars sophomore point guard Montell White as he tried to set up the offense near the top of the key and converting 1-of-2 free throws after being fouled by White on the breakaway.