This guard from Brentwood was as good as any guard I've seen all year, including some of our point guards, I was very impressed watching him against Hamilton.
Quote: Confident, intense Lawson expected a different ending
By Maurice Patton for the Williamson Herald
MURFREESBORO – Jalen Lawson wasn’t surprised when he came out of Brentwood’s Class AAA state championship contest Saturday against Memphis Hamilton.
As instrumental as the senior guard has been to the Bruins’ postseason performance, he’s also astute enough to know he wasn’t giving his team what it needed when he exited three minutes into the second half.
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“I wasn’t playing well,” said the 5-10 Lawson, who returned before the end of the quarter and helped spark a late – and ultimately unsuccessful – comeback in an eventual 65-62 title-game loss.
“I respect that decision to get someone in there that’s playing well, keep things together and give us a chance to win.”
Those lapses by Lawson were rare since he took over the point guard position heading into the District 11-AAA tournament, following the dismissal of James McPherson. In three state tournament games, he averaged 14 points and seven assists – including a double-double (15 points, 10 assists) in the quarterfinal win over White County and a 19-point, six-assist performance Saturday.
“We knew we had two of the best point guards in the Midstate,” said veteran coach Dennis King in reference to Lawson, who moved to Brentwood from Birmingham his sophomore year, and McPherson. “One of them had to go to the wing. But Jalen got a lot of experience at the point last year. We knew we wouldn’t miss a beat.”
But with everything on the line Saturday, King chose to sit Lawson momentarily and banked on him returning refocused.
“At the end of the second quarter, he was having a meltdown,” King said.”(Friday) we sat him for a little bit, and it seemed to readjust his settings. He wasn’t getting a handle on the ball. We just needed to get him some time to watch a little. When we put him back in, he was brilliant.”
“He’s as quick, as instinctive, as electric a point guard as has come through Brentwood – and maybe the Midstate.”
With Hamilton threatening to pull away late in the third, Lawson scored on a backdoor layup with five seconds remaining to make it a 42-36 game.
“I wasn’t necessarily looking to do something at that point, but as long as we could get something at that point and get some momentum, that was all that mattered,” he said. “That just happened to be the play.
“It’s a complete team thing. We’re all in this together.”
It was a team thing, too, when after trailing 54-39 with four minutes left, Lawson hit three 3-pointers down the stretch to fuel Brentwood’s rally.
“We were either going to get embarrassed, or do something epic,” King said. “We challenged them to reach down and find something. We almost had a ‘Hoosiers’ win.
“We couldn’t get him off in the first quarter. He took some shots I’ve seen go in (that didn’t). It’s a balance between giving him the green light to find his stroke and letting him shoot us out of the game. But he got readjusted, and we had a shot to win.”
Behind the 3-pointers – Lawson’s and three more from Ian Bennie and Tanner Tapp – and a pass from Lawson to set up a Grant Teichmann three-point play, the Bruins took a 62-61 lead inside the final minute before coming up empty on their final two possessions.
“I just encouraged everyone to keep going and believe we can come back,” Lawson said. “With these guys, there’s nothing we go into thinking we can’t accomplish, as long as we play together and play as a team.”
go all in and call with pookie and broddie at pg. that's a dang good hand showing. pook with a year under his belt will shine soon enough. I assume broddie is a natural pg, but correct me if wrong.
(03-17-2015 10:16 PM)tigeriron Wrote: go all in and call with pookie and broddie at pg. that's a dang good hand showing. pook with a year under his belt will shine soon enough. I assume broddie is a natural pg, but correct me if wrong.
can you even count on kedren?
Broddie is another off guard with D1 PG aspirations. We need a PURE PG.
(03-17-2015 10:16 PM)tigeriron Wrote: go all in and call with pookie and broddie at pg. that's a dang good hand showing. pook with a year under his belt will shine soon enough. I assume broddie is a natural pg, but correct me if wrong.
can you even count on kedren?
Broddie is another off guard with D1 PG aspirations. We need a PURE PG.
(03-17-2015 10:16 PM)tigeriron Wrote: go all in and call with pookie and broddie at pg. that's a dang good hand showing. pook with a year under his belt will shine soon enough. I assume broddie is a natural pg, but correct me if wrong.
can you even count on kedren?
Broddie is another off guard with D1 PG aspirations. We need a PURE PG.
IMO, we need a pure PG, as you point out. First and foremost someone who can handle the ball at all times.
(03-17-2015 10:16 PM)tigeriron Wrote: go all in and call with pookie and broddie at pg. that's a dang good hand showing. pook with a year under his belt will shine soon enough. I assume broddie is a natural pg, but correct me if wrong.
can you even count on kedren?
Broddie is another off guard with D1 PG aspirations. We need a PURE PG.
IMO, we need a pure PG, as you point out. First and foremost someone who can handle the ball at all times.