By BOB REDD
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
WELCH — It would be correct to say Maurice Brown is the big man on campus at Mount View High School. The 6’4 senior towers over most of his schoolmates and is the tallest member of the Golden Knights’ basketball team.
Last week in games against PikeView and River View, Brown scored 33 points and had 29 rebounds in the two contests, leading the Knights to victory and earning Pocahontas Coal Association/ Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week honors.
“We’ve been playing pretty good. I just thought I had to step it up and start getting more rebounds and stuff, because Coach said that’s what he needed me to do. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, more rebounds. I’m not really worried about scoring that much,” Brown said. MVHS head coach Gary Brown, no relation to the player, said Maurice is an important part of the team’s success this year.
“He is an integral part of our program in that we rely on him for a number of different things,” Coach Brown said.
“He could be our best rebounder and best scorer. We feel like there are some things he really doesn’t understand about the intensity and the commitment that he has to put into playing because he’s probably our number one scorer and one of our best rebounders.
“He’s going to draw the best defensive assignment, and sometimes he doesn’t realize that he has to play at a higher intensity against teams because they are going to defend him a little harder than they would some of our other players.”
Brown is one of 10 seniors on the Mount View roster. A three-year starter and a multi-sport athlete, Brown, according to his coach, lets his play speak for him and is one of several leaders on the Golden Knights’ squad.
“I don’t think he is a vocal leader. Sometimes you can lead by example and that’s what we’re trying to teach him to do. If he plays hard and he works hard and he goes out every night and gives a quality effort, then we feel like he’s a leader,” Coach Brown said.
At this point of the season, with sectional tournament play beginning in just over a week, Brown and the Golden Knights have one thing on their minds, winning.
“Our attitude is just to play hard and try to win, do better than we did last year, get out of the first round, that’s the main goal, get out of the first round and try to make it to regionals,” Maurice Brown said. “We’ve got a good position (sectional seeding) this year, we’ve just have to take out somebody.”
A member of the football and baseball teams at Mount View, Brown said he enjoys all sports, but there is one that stands above the rest.
“I like playing sports, I like them all the same, but if I had to pick I would play football, that’s where I’d rather play,” he said.
Brown said some schools have expressed interest in him playing on the gridiron, but at present he has not made a decision as to where he will attend college.
At this point of the season, with sectional tournament play beginning in just over a week, Brown and the Golden Knights have one thing on their minds, winning.
“Our attitude is just to play hard and try to win, do better than we did last year, get out of the first round, that’s the main goal, get out of the first round and try to make it to regionals,” Maurice Brown said. “We’ve got a good position (sectional seeding) this year, we’ve just have to take out somebody.”
A member of the football and baseball teams at Mount View, Brown said he enjoys all sports, but there is one that stands above the rest.
“I like playing sports, I like them all the same, but if I had to pick I would play football, that’s where I’d rather play,” he said.
Brown said some schools have expressed interest in him playing on the gridiron, but at present he has not made a decision as to where he will attend college.