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MOUNDSVILLE -- With a pair of starting guards sidelined with injuries Wednesday night, John Marshall had trouble taking care of the basketball in its West Virginia Class AAA Region 1, Section 1 semifinal contest with visiting Brooke.
But, while the Monarchs were turning the ball over 21 times, coach Chad Clutter's club managed to dominate the boards and control the inside that allowed them to keep the Bruins at arms length most of the game.
Junior Derrick Derrow scored a game-high 23 points, senior Derian O'Bryan provided a much-needed spark off the bench in the first half and John Marshall grabbed a huge edge off the glass with 21 more rebounds in capturing a 67-55 victory over the Bruins at the John Marshall Fieldhouse.
The win guarantees Clutter's 8-14 record squad at least two more games, the first of those coming Friday night on the hill when the Monarchs travel to Wheeling Park for the Section 1 championship game.
"You always like the fact of knowing you have at least two more games with a win in the play-in game," Clutter said with a smile. "But, you also know that to get downstate you are going to have to beat two of the Top 5 teams in the state. With Wheeling Park, Morgantown and University, there are some big obstacles in this region."
While the Monarchs used their size to beat Brooke twice this season before Wednesday night, the Bruins' defense allowed them to take a first-quarter lead. John Marshall outrebounded their guests, 15-5, in the frame, but six turnovers hurt the hosts. With Nick Brown scoring nine of his 11 in the period, Brooke grabbed a 16-15 advantage heading to the second quarter.
The second period belonged to the Monarchs, who took the lead and never gave it away. After an Alex Isinghood basket made it an 18-15 Bruins' lead 22 seconds in the frame, John Marshall scored the next nine, which included a deuce and a triple by sophomore Jacob Korngiver sandwiched around an O'Bryan putback for a 24-18 score.
Brooke managed to cut the deficit to 36-31 at the break. However, Korngiver scored all eight of his points in the second, and O'Bryan added six off the bench.
Coach Mel Coleman's squad managed to cut the deficit 40-39 on an Alex Lilly basket at 4:58 of the third, but O'Bryan started an 8-0 John Marshall burst with another putback a short time later. The lead eventually grew to 53-43 when Derrow knocked down a long triple just before the horn to end the chapter.
An Isinghood charity toss with 3:03 to play once again had Brooke within striking distance at 56-51, but the hosts were able to knock down their free throws and close on an 11-4 run to secure the victory.
"We were down two guards and turned the ball over more than I would like, but the rebounding kept us where we wanted to be," Clutter said. "If they had any sort of rebounding whatsoever, it could very easily had been a different story.
"We fell behind early but Derian (O'Bryan) did a great job lifting us up off the bench. He is a lengthy kid and all we ask of anyone coming off the bench is to go in and produce, and he did that. Freshman Roman Gray did a great job also and was our leading rebounding. We did a great job on the boards against them two other times this year that helped us beat them."
While Derrow had 23, O'Bryan and senior Izac Babiczuk had 10 each, while Korngiver and Adam Miller each tallied eight. Isinghood led the Bruins with 18, while Lilly had 14, Brown 11 and Dalton Anderson nine off the bench. Brooke turned the ball over 16 times on the night.
John Marshall finished the contest shooting 50 percent from the field on a 28 of 56 showing.
"Rebounding has been a hassle for us all along because we just don't have enough horses inside," Coleman said. "We forced them into some turnovers, but we didn't do a very good job of capitalizing on them when we had the chances.
"And, when we weren't forcing turnovers, we were allowing them to get second-chance shots. We did a good job at making them take bad initial shots, but they were making the second shots. Their size really hurt, us and we are going to need to get bigger and stronger inside in the future."
John Marshall 67, Brooke 55
Brooke 16-15-12-12 -- 55
John Marshall 15-21-17-14 -- 67
BROOKE: Brown 5-10 1-1 11; Isinghood 8-18 2-3 18; Sperlazza 0-5 3-4 3; Lilly 5-9 4-5 14; Coursin 0-6 0-0 0; Anderson 3-6 0-0 9; Buckmelter 0-1 0-0 0; Silver 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-52 10-13 55.
JOH MARSHALL: Derrow 8-14 5-8 23; Gilbert 1-1 0-0 2; Miller 3-8 2-2 8; Korngiver 3-10 0-0 8; Babiczuk 5-12 0-2 10; Berner 1-2 0-2 2; Gray 2-3 2-2 4; O'Bryan 5-6 0-0 10. TOTALS: 28-56 9-16 67.
3-POINT GOALS: Anderson 3; Derrow 2, Korngiver 2