By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
LINDSIDE — Mount View has lost five games this season by a total of 15 points. Friday night at James Monroe, the Golden Knights finally had a tight one go their way.
K.J. Brown scored four of his seven game-total points in overtime, including the game-winner with 4.7 seconds showing, and Mount View held on for a 49-48 victory over the Mavericks.
“We didn’t have any intensity coming out. We just didn’t look like we wanted to play,” said Golden Knights head coach Gary Brown, whose team trailed 17-14 at the half. “We finally went to a trap and got people moving and playing and got our energy up. I think we finally started playing better.”
James Monroe (6-6) built a 23-14 lead early in the third quarter on successive stick-backs by Clay Havens, Landon Shires and Lance Wilson. The Golden Knights (4-8) were on the verge of swirling down the drain when Mount View’s pressing and trapping paid off. Point guard De’Moni Edwards was the decisive spark, contributing an assist, two steals, a rebound and three buckets off four successive Mavs turnovers.
“I just thought he was in the right place at the right time with the trap,” said Brown. “But offensively, I thought we played relatively poorly. If not for the press tonight, I think we would’ve lost. I honestly do.”
Edwards, who stroked a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put the Knights up 34-30 headed into the final period of regulation, led Mount View with 14 points.
“I thought we had to pick it up more than we did in the first half. I was just looking for the better shot,” said Edwards, who had three steals and one assist, but might’ve had three or four more had the Knights finished more consistently in the post.
James Monroe, which played without leading scorer Dominick Lewis, got back into the game on a Jaylen Lewis 3-pointer with 5:24 remaining. After two lockups in over the final three minutes, the Mavericks tied it up at 43 when Dakota Copenhaver scored off an in-bounds pass with 39 seconds showing.
The stalemate carried over to the buzzer.
James Monroe appeared to get what appeared to be the decisive bucket of overtime when it spread the floor and Wilson broke down his shadow and got to the rim for the 48-45 lead with 36.8 seconds showing.
Copenhaver, who had 12 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for the Mavs, fouled out moments later and Ellison Bryson sank both free throws to trim the lead to one point.
Shires missed the front end of a subsequent one-and-one with 21.9 seconds showing. K.J. Brown, who’d for the most part been confounded by Monroe’s defensive efforts, finally created the necessary shot.
“I really thought we set the tone early on and made Mount View play our pace. said James Monroe head coach Johnathan McPherson, whose team had lost 54-34 at Mount View. “The first time we played them, I thought we had one bad quarter and that cost us the whole game. There at the end, the Brown kid hit a tough shot, but I still thought we played awesome to the end.”
Mount View goes to Westside on Tuesday. James Monroe travels to PikeView.

At James Monroe High School
MOUNT VIEW (4-8)
Sidney George 1 3-4 5, De’Moni Edwards 6 0-0 14, Elijah Collier 0 2-2 2, K.J. Brown 3 1-2 7, Joe Hayes 3 0-1 6, Kobe Brown 0 0-0 0, Jacquane Imes 3 2-3 8, Ellison Bryson 1 4-4 7, Marquis Bonds 0 0-0 0. Totals, 17 12-16 49.
JAMES MONROE (6-6)
Caleb Spencer 5 1-4 12, Lance Wilson 3 0-0 7, Dakota Copenhaver 5 2-2 12, Landon Shires 1 2-7 5, Jaylon Lewis 1 0-0 3, Clay Havens 4 1-1 9, Dylan McMahan 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-14 48.
Mount View..............5 9 20 9 6 — 49
James Monroe........10 7 13 13 5 — 48
3-point goals: Mount View 3 (Edwards 2, Bryson); James Monroe 4 (Spencer, Wilson, Shires, J. Lewis). JV: James Monroe 65, Mount View 54.