John Marshall wins after threats on school

Patrick Garrett wanted to protect John Marshall’s home court, even if that meant doing so on the road.

The day before John Marshall was set to host Douglass with a Class 4A district title on the line, threats of violence against the school were made on social media.

In the wake of 17 deaths in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, John Marshall officials took no chances.

Principal Aspasia Carlson said Oklahoma City police patrolled the school on Friday, dozens of students stayed home and the Bears playoff game was moved to Capitol Hill High School as a precautionary measure.

“A lot of people were scared,” Garrett said. “We were all kind of mad somebody would make a threat against our school, but we knew our teachers and staff would keep everybody safe.

“We just had to take care of our own business.”

In front of a sparse crowd due to an earlier game time, John Marshall took down Douglass 48-46 in a wild finish between the two city rivals.

Garrett, a junior forward, finished with only six points but filled it up everywhere else as he grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked five shots, made three steals and dished two assists.

“Anyway I can help my guys win I can do it,” Garrett said. “Tonight, I wasn’t scoring so I tried to do as much as possible.”

John Marshall led by 11 heading into the fourth quarter before Douglass started its rally behind senior forward Shaquille Hopkins.

Hopkins, who had two points at the half, put up eight points in the fourth quarter alone, including a 3-point play with 24 seconds left to cut John Marshall’s lead to 2.

But Douglass’ last-second shot at the buzzer flew wide, hitting off the side of the backboard and sending John Marshall on to the next round.

John Marshall was led in scoring by sophomore guard Xavier Cyprian, who finished with 11.

“Our kids showed a lot of resiliency,” John Marshall coach Patrick Cudjoe said. “Finding out the day of the game they wouldn’t have home court advantage was tough. But I thought we did a great job all around, and our kids showed some mental toughness to come on the road to win this game.”