He’s made the shot a hundred times — he knew he could make this one as well.
Marcus Burnett caught the ball, pivoted, and let it fly, certain it would hit nothing but net. He was right. The Jefferson junior shooting guard gave the Orange Wave a late-game lead with just seconds left on the clock, lifting the squad to a 67–60 victory over Boys & Girls on Jan. 19.
“I was confident in that shot,” said Burnett, who finished with 12 points. “I didn’t even think about it. It was just to help my team win. And shout out to Malachi [Faison] on a good pass.”
Burnett’s shot wrapped up a Jefferson comeback that was the high point in a game the Orange Wave couldn’t seem to control. The two squads battled for momentum from the opening tip, mounting back-and-forth runs throughout the league tilt.
Neither team could really put it away,” Jefferson coach Lawrence “Bud” Pollard said. “It’s a rivalry game, so both teams are going to make a run, and they’re going to fight until the end. We made the last run, and the clock ran out — thank God — because they were going to make another run.”
Jefferson jumped out to a 12-point lead after the first quarter, but Boys & Girls answered in the second, making it a two-point game at the break.
The Kangaroos came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, grabbing a 50–40 lead with 1:26 left in the third period. Jefferson, however, refused to panic. Instead, the Orange Wave fell into its defensive game plan and settled into a full-court press that forced Boys & Girls into a handful of turnovers.
“Play hard,” said shooting guard Jordan Armstrong of the team’s mentality. “In practice we do this thing called 32 minutes of hell. We just gave them hell in the second half.”
Armstrong was a one-man offensive machine in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring Jefferson’s first nine points of the period. He made it a two-point game with just over four minutes on the clock and his shooting streak helped spark a bit of determination in the Orange Wave.
“The first half, I had two fouls, so coach sat me out and he just told me to play hard when I came back in,” said Armstrong, who finished with 22 points. “I just had to bring that fire when I was on the court and help my team go up.”
Burnett followed up with the next six points — including the go-ahead bucket with 49.1 seconds left, giving the Orange Wave a one-point cushion.
Boys & Girls scored just one point in the final two and a half minutes, struggling to move the ball as Jefferson’s full-court defense took control when it had to.
“Our team just kept telling each other we were going to win,” said Burnett. “Everybody was just denying their man. Everybody just wanted to play hard.”
Jefferson wrapped up the win from the foul line, going four-for-four from the stripe in the final 32 seconds. It was a much-needed victory for the Orange Wave, fresh off a disappointing showing against South Shore on Jan. 17, keeping the squad in the mix heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
“It’s been one of those years for us, but the kids are fighting,” Pollard said. “They still believe and all we need to do is get in the tournament.”
