Richmond Heights led through most of the first three quarters against Garfield Heights on Dec. 28. The Spartans used their looks from beyond the arc to maintain the lead. Then Ohio State commit Marcus Johnson took over the game. His 22-point explosion in the fourth quarter pushed the Bulldogs ahead to a 74-65 victory and kept them undefeated on the season at 7-0. Richmond Heights (3-3) started the game with smart shoot selection, using space created behind the arc. The Spartans hit five of their first seven from deep and ended the first hitting their last four. Demarris Winters had a strong first half from deep, like normal, connecting on four of the Spartans’ 10 first half 3-pointers. He also had some strong running mates. Joey Emory had 11 points in the first quarter and 13 of his team-high 20 in the first half. AJ Adio added three 3-pointers of his own in the first half for the halftime lead. “It’s all just working,” Richmond Heights coach Quentin Rogers said. “We all train and do everything together. We give them shots and they know that they have to step up. They did the best that they could today.” Adio finished with 15 points to help fill the role of Dorian Jones, who missed his second game due to illness, with his length and strong shooting ability. Winters finished with 19 and nine rebounds while DeErick Barber finished with 12 points. Neither side amassed a lead of more than a possession for a majority of the contest, as mini runs determined the outcome. Garfield Heights tied the contest at 47-47 late in the third quarter but a 5-0 run by Richmond Heights put the Spartans up, 52-47, to start the fourth. They did a strong job of stopping Johnson in the third, limiting him to just two points. But he started the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run by himself to tie the game back up. “Some of that was more, we’re trying to get the guys to learn shot selection,” Rogers said. “So when we shoot tough shots and miss, that’s technically another teams offense. So we’re working on being patient, now when we have leads, we’ll be a little more conservative and smarter. Especially when we look back on the film, we’ll shoot more for sure shots.” The Spartans continued to battle but the surge from the junior was too much to overcome. The Bulldogs fed him possession after possession with drives to the hole. He finished with a game high 38 and put the game out of reach with his free-throw shooting down the stretch, going 8-8 from the line. The strength of the Spartans through the contest, their 3-point shooting, went by the wayside in the fourth. They were 1-for-9 in the frame but the bad performance late doesn’t deter Rogers confidence. “We’ll take the ones we got,” Rogers said. “I think in the first three quarters we did a good job of being patient. In the fourth we were looking for a knockout shot or an immediate answer after they scored. We were a bit too erratic and it gave them offense.” Garfield Heights also had Ari Jones (12 points) and DeVaughn Hackson (11 points) also finish in double figures. The Spartans return to the court in the new year, as a part of the Play-By-Play Classic at John Carroll on Jan. 5, where they take on Reynoldsburg. The score Garfield Heights 74, Richmond Heights 65