The McDonough boys’ 29-25 quarterfinal road victory over Monroe Wednesday night was one of the most talked about results of the GHSA state tournament so far. The buzz did not spawn from the Warhawks pulling off the upset over the No. 4 ranked Golden Tornadoes, but rather focused on the historically-low final score and Monroe’s decision to hold the ball for the entire third quarter that led to the unusually-low scoring output.
McDonough’s 29 points were the lowest for a boys winner in the state tournament since 1950 when Jordan beat Brown, 27-26, also a quarterfinals game, according to Becky Taylor of the Georgia High School Basketball Project. The 54 combined points is also the lowest in a GHSA boys game since that Jordan-Brown game in 1950.
I caught up with McDonough head coach BJ Thomas late Thursday morning to get his take on what went down in the second half.
“Our strategy going into the game was to control the tempo,” said Thomas. “We felt that a fast tempo benefitted Monroe, so we didn’t want an up-and-down game. Our point was to keep it slow and play by the zone, particularly a box and one. We started off well and took the lead, but Monroe got the lead back because we allowed the game to get sped up.
McDonough jumped out to a 12-9 lead after the first quarter, but Monroe outscored the Warhawks 11-5 in the second quarter and went into the half with a 20-17 lead.
“They had a three-point lead at the half (20-17) and we had come out of the box for a second and they were able to make some threes to build that lead and so we decided to get back to the box and make sure that we were getting out there to defend the shooters,” explained Thomas. “So then we came out in the box for the start of the third quarter and they held the ball for the entire third quarter.”
When the third quarter started, Thomas directed his team to go back to the box and one zone formation and this is what compelled Monroe to run out the clock for the entire quarter.
“I didn’t find the need to come out of the box,” said Thomas. “Even if they were going to hold the ball for the entire third quarter, we were going to be down just one possession and were set to get the ball to start the fourth quarter and so I will take that and I was content with that 20-17 score heading into the fourth. …I initially thought they were just taking their time and then after a while I realized that they were just going to let the quarter play out and I just said okay, we are going to let it out and go into the fourth quarter down by three.”
McDonough cut the lead to 20-19 on its first possession and then coach Thomas went to a 1-2-2 zone and Monroe was willing to forward. Once McDonough got another defensive stop, they netted the go-ahead basket. With the lead, McDonough quickly shifted back to the box and one zone and forced Monroe to take on that formation for the rest of the game.
The Class 4A boys field has been wide open this season. Last season, Woodward Academy and Sandy Creek were the No. 1 and No. 2 team for the entire season and now that those two programs have left the classification the ultimate prize is up for grabs with just two rounds left.
McDonough will visit undefeated Baldwin on Saturday and Westover will visit Fayette County on the opposite side of the bracket. McDonough’s playoff run has already included a double-overtime win against Jefferson, a 52-49 win over Mays and this recent 29-25 victory.
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