Coming back from winter break, the Mathews High School boys’ basketball teams split a pair of contests this week, with the JV and varsity squads losing to the visiting Lancaster Red Devils on Monday, bouncing back on Tuesday with wins at King and Queen.
Lancaster
Monday’s contests against the visiting Red Devils began with the JV game, with Mathews falling by a 36-28 margin. Lancaster opened the game with a full court press, leading Mathews to struggle getting the ball over half court. The press allowed the Red Devils to jump out to a quick 8-0 lead to open the game. The Blue Devils were held scoreless for the first six minutes of play until Finn McKinster made a tough layup to add points on the board for Mathews. The first quarter ended with Lancaster leading, 9-2. Lancaster extended its lead in the second quarter as the Red Devils’ Jamar Davis scored six of his 12 points in the period. Mathews was unable to keep up with the superior ball movement and speed of Lancaster as the first half ended with Mathews trailing, 22-8. The second half showed a new Mathews team as McKinster dominated the paint, scoring 17 points on the night and leading Mathews back in the third and fourth quarters. Mathews played even with Lancaster in the third quarter as Mathews entered the fourth down, 30-17. The Red Devils would remain in control, but the Blue Devils’ strong comeback cut the lead to double digits in a show of resilience from such a young team.
The varsity Blue Devils suffered a tough defeat against the regional rivals from Lancaster, 88-72. Mathews struggled in the opening minutes as they allowed Lancaster to start strong with a six-point advantage in the first two minutes of play. Lancaster’s Jamarcus Russell led the Red Devils with phenomenal shooting as Mathews fought to stop his superior shooting in the first quarter. Midway through the opening quarter, Mathews found its footing as Jordyn Cosby began to dominate on offense with eight points in the first quarter.
Although Cosby battled hard down in the paint, Lancaster still led as Mathews entered the second quarter trailing, 23-18. The second quarter of play was devastating for the Blue Devils as Lancaster showed sheer dominance. Mathews committed countless costly turnovers, allowing for easy points for the visitors as they proceeded with a 15-point run. Mathews was held scoreless for a majority of the quarter as the Lancaster defense stood strong, preventing Cosby from remaining a factor.
Senior Tre Greene would finally add his name to the box score as he scored all six of the Blue Devils’ points in the second quarter. Mathews ended the first half down, 47-24. Lancaster started the third quarter strong as Mathews was unable to score in the first minutes. Following their initial struggle, Mathews created rhythm, cutting the lead to only nine, but that was as close as the gap would get as Lancaster began matching the Blue Devil scoring to maintain a lead entering the fourth quarter. Lancaster did not allow Mathews to control the speed as they cruised in the final quarter. Cam Matthews attempted to lead a comeback with stellar shooting, finishing the night with 10 points for the Blue Devils. Cosby continued his strong season with 21 points and efficient foul shooting. Greene led Mathews with 26 points.
King and Queen
It was a different story on Tuesday, as the MHS JV and varsity squads dominated their foes, winning by 27-12 and 80-60 margins, respectively.
McKinster led the Blue Devils with four points in the first quarter as Mathews opened up an 8-0 lead. King and Queen was finally able to score the ball in the second quarter on a free throw, but the Mathews defense stifled every other attempt as the Tigers failed to score a single field goal in the first half. The Mathews offense slowed in the second, but still maintained a commanding lead as the first half ended 11-1 Mathews.
The second half began with strong shooting for Mathews as they continued to stretch the lead as freshman Michael Wiatt scored six points in the third quarter. The Tigers mase their first shot of the game in the third quarter, finally beating the stiff defense from Mathews. Wiatt led the Blue Devils with 10 points, followed by McKinster with nine.
The Mathews varsity squad started strong, something they struggled with in previous games as Greene scored the first eight points of the game with back-to-back dunks to give the Blue Devils momentum that carried through the rest of the night. Mathews played dominant defense forcing King and Queen to make tough passes which led to turnovers.
Cam Matthews added a three-pointer to the Mathews lead, followed by a series of incredible layups from Cosby. MHS ended the first quarter ahead, 20-13. Cosby was the unstoppable factor in the second quarter, taking advantage of weak interior defense from the Tigers. Cosby scored 10 points in the second quarter alone. Sophomore Julian Woodlen brought much-needed offense back to the team with seven points in the first half and a buzzer beater to close the first half as Mathews held a 46-23 lead. Mathews continued to increase its lead in the third quarter as their defense prevented King and Queen from closing the gap. Greene played a huge factor in controlling the game as he finished the night with 17 points.
The big highlight of the night was Cosby reaching his 1,000th rebound in the third quarter to accompany his 1,000 points reached earlier this season. Cosby ended his night with 17 points to match Greene. Mathews led, 67-40, entering the final stretch of the game. King and Queen would find its shooting touch as Ayden Gibson and Gerard Hill scored 26 points each, a majority in the fourth, to help close the gap, but it was not enough as Mathews held onto the lead to remain undefeated in district play.
Mathews travels to Charles City today hoping to continue its perfect record against district opponents. On Tuesday, the MHS boys travel to King William.
