FALLS CHURCH The season has ended for the Halifax County High School varsity boys basketball team.

Two rallies by the Comets in the third quarter allowed them to erase all but one point of an 11-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, but George C. Marshall High School was able to make the plays it needed down the stretch to stave off the Comets 58-45 Monday night in an opening-round game of the 5A North Region Tournament at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church.

"Hats off to my guys," remarked Comets Head Coach Sterling Williams.

"We had a great season. The guys gave me everything they had every day. This is a really good group of guys, and I'm thankful and blessed to have had the opportunity to coach them."

The Comets (16-9 overall) were led in scoring by James Smith Jr. who tallied a game-high 20 points. Tyliek Powell was next in line with eight points, Shelquon Edmonds chipped in five points and Tysean Dunkley and Ford Morrison scored four points each.

Halifax County High School struggled early, falling behind 15-2 in the first five minutes of the game as the Statesmen hit a trio of three-point shots and got a basket inside from 6-11 center Jack Foley during its early run.

From that point on, the Comets faced a daunting task to get back into contention. With baskets from Powell, Morrison and Jordan Williams in the last 1:55 of the first quarter, the Comets closed the deficit to seven points at 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The Statesmen stretched their lead back to 11 points at 25-14 on a basket from Daniel Deaver with 1:35 left in the first half. Smith answered with a couple of baskets, but Deaver hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give his team a 29-16 lead at halftime.

Halifax County High School made its best push of the game in the second half, putting together an 11-3 run over the first 3:18 of the third quarter to get to within four points at 32-28 on the last of three baskets from Smith in the run.

The Statesmen's Joseph Lampman broke the Comets' rally with a 3-point basket and teammate Marhel Harrison followed with a basket to put their team up 37-28 with 3:41 left in the third quarter.

Halifax County High School fell behind by 10 points at 40-30, but outscored George C. Marshall High School 7-1 over the last 1:41 of the quarter with a bucket from Edmonds, a three-point play from Bailey and a basket from Powell to close to within four points at 41-37 at the end of the period.

Smith brought the Comets to within a point at 41-40 by completing a three-point play on the Comets's first possession of the fourth quarter. The Comets never got that close again.

Foley answered for the Statesmen with a dunk in the paint, made one of two free throw attempts after a Comets turnover, and after a missed shot by the Comets, hit another basket from deep in the paint to put the Statesmen up 46-40 with 6:22 left in the game.

In that sequence, the Comets failed to score on five straight possessions after having gotten the early play from Smith that allowed the Comets to close to within a point.

It was a gradual descent for the Comets after that as they fell behind by 10 points at 50-40 with 3:10 left in the contest. Over the final two minutes the Comets were forced to foul in an attempt to get the ball back but the Statesmen hit 9 of 10 attempts from the charity stripe over the last 1:46 of the game to seal the win.

Williams said the Comets' slow start to the game was the difference in the outcome.

"I feel if we had battled in the first quarter like we did in the middle of the second quarter, third quarter and part of the fourth quarter it would have been a different outcome," Williams said.

"We came out a little flat. I don't know if it was the long bus ride or long day or what it was, but we came out a little flat. We didn't play hard. Our intensity wasn't there. We couldn't get the stops defensively that we normally do. Offensively, the shots weren't going in. We used so much energy to get back into the game that we couldn't seal the deal on those possessions that we needed to score.

"Hats off to Marshall," added Williams.

"They ran their stuff offensively and kept getting the ball inside to the big guy (Foley). They kept running it until we broke down defensively."

Lampman led the Statesmen in scoring with 14 points. Foley followed with 13 points and Ryan Robinson chipped in 11 points.

With the win, George C. Marshall High School (19-7 overall) advances to Tuesday night's quarterfinal round where it will face Potomac High School in Dumfries.

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Comets' season ends in 58-45 loss in opening round of 5A North ... - YourGV.com