Spring Valley Defeats John Marshall 61-43 in SJI
by Grant TraylorHuntington News Network Sportswriter
Huntington (HNN) — Coty Smith scored 17 points to lead the Spring Valley Timberwolves to a 61-43 victory over the John Marshall Monarchs Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 in the St. Joe Invitational.
Spring Valley (4-7) also received 13 points from Nate Wilds.
The Timberwolves were able to ice the game late by connecting on 14-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter. Spring Valley’s last nine points came from the free throw stripe.
Zach Amedro led John Marshall (0-12) with 16 points while Anthony Montes added 12 in the loss.
The Monarchs were able to hold Spring Valley in check for much of the contest, but offensively John Marshall did not help its efforts by hitting only 15-of-53 field goal attempts for a dismal 28.3 percent.
John Marshall was able to come back early in the fourth, but a 14-3 run by Spring Valley over a 2:30 span increased the lead to double-digits and kept the Monarchs out of the win column.
After John Marshall went on an 8-2 run to close the Spring Valley lead to 31-28, Michael Wright scored the last four points to give Spring Valley a 35-30 lead at the end of three quarters of play.
The Timberwolves held a 27-17 lead at the end of the first half as each team struggled to get into an offensive rhythm.
Chad Pemberton hit a pair of threes to push the Monarchs out of a trapping zone defense that held Spring Valley without a field goal over a five-minute span of the second quarter.
However, Spring Valley held the lead even through the dry spell as John Marshall only hit 6-of-19 field goal attempts in the first half.
Smith led the Timberwolves out to an early lead by scoring 11 points in the first quarter as Spring Valley jumped out to a 17-9 lead.
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