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Hopewell Basketball Continues its Winnin' Ways
Varsity Boys and Girls Take Down Meadowbrook and Matoaca
By Jeff Butler
So far, December 2024 has been perfect for Hopewell basketball. The Girls' and Boys' Varsity programs remain undefeated with a 6-0 record, and the Junior Varsity Boys' Program has also remained undefeated in all their games!
In last Friday's Boy's Varsity game at home against Meadowbrook (2-2), our Blue Devils defeated the Monarchs 79-37 behind Juniors Deshawn Spellman's 26 points and Nick Byrd's 21. These two most valuable players had good support from teammates Stephon Cherry (Sophomore) with his 10 points, Senior Dominique Coleman's 8 points, and Junior Jamese Jordan's 7 points. Jordan was instrumental at the start of the third quarter, scoring all 7 points in a flurry of activity.
Spellman led the team's rebounding efforts with 8, while Byrd gave seven assists to lead in that department. Teammates Coleman and Max Preston (Freshman) were each credited with three steals.
The Blue Devils then moved toward a game against another Central District foe this past Tuesday, the Matoaca Warriors. (3-2) They had previously beaten Meadowbrook by 20 points. While Hopewell's victory over the Warriors, also at home, was almost as dominating, 83-47, there was one statistic that Head Coach Elvin Edmonds had to be concerned about: turnovers - unofficially 20. While up-tempo games like this one certainly lend themselves to more turnovers, this is a statistic the whole team is concerned with as it prepares to play Thursday, another undefeated team in John Marshall High School (Richmond). John Marshall finished second in the nation last year.
Matoaka, meanwhile, showed, with their pesky defense, how they could take down Meadowbrook so handily. While they placed two players in double figures, Seniors Jaleel Moore (14) and Calijuan Tucker (13), they were hampered by Hopewell's pressing defense, which caused them to cough up unofficially 18 turnovers.
Matoaka had entered the game riding a three-game win streak after an opening season loss to Dinwiddie 56-44. With wins over Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Meadowbrook, the Warriors did hit a stone wall against Hopewell - (as had Colonial Heights and Meadowbrook) - the Blue Devils raced out to a 24-11 lead after one quarter. Spellman led the way again with 8 points, but when he took a hard fall early in the second quarter, it may have prompted Matoaca to almost play Hopewell even in that second quarter. Hopewell still led by 17 at the half, 40-23, but they did not get the third-quarter surge they achieved against Meadowbrook (25-6). Instead, Matoaca only lost five additional points (20-15) and now trailed 60-38. Hopewell was helped in that quarter by four three-pointers: one each by Cherry, Coleman, Byrd, and Spellman. Then their starters and reserves closed things out with a 23-9 fourth quarter, and their 83-47 final score meant that each of their six wins has continued to be by a minimum of 29 points - and two by over 40.
None of that matters, though, as Hopewell turns its attention Thursday night to John Marshall. The Justices have compiled a 75-7 record over the last three seasons and won state championships yearly. Hopewell has played them each of the previous two years, with the Blue Devils losing 84-47 and 83-64.
As this article appears one day after the Thursday game, Hopewell will also play Saturday night on the road against Massaponax High School, back at home with a scheduled 7:15 PM start.
WHAP Radio will cover all of the action, beginning with a Coach's Show during the pre-game on AM1340, 96.9 FM, and also on an app like Simple Radio by typing in The Point, WHAP AM1340.
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