Monday, January 5, 2009

Jefferson Boys Hang 31 in First Quarter on Tigers in Layup Drill

Jefferson's boys hung 31 points on the Worth County Tigers in a first quarter layup drill and went on to win 65-21 in Friday night action. Unlike the girls, who were competitive against the Eagles for 1 1/2 quarters, the boys were knocked out early as the game was never competitive. Asked if there was any redeeming value in such a game, Coach Chris Healy said that it was a matter of learning from it. "Hopefully, we'll learn something from this game and take something out of it," said Healy after the game. He said that the loss was a combination of inexperience and intimidation. "Some players had never seen pressure like this, and some players had seen this kind of pressure and were intimidated by it," he said. The intimidation factor was obvious in the third quarter when Jefferson had taken off its vaunted press and the Tigers were still making unforced errors against the Eagles.

The Tigers managed only five points in the first quarter, meaning that the game was esssentially over with the team down 31-5. Jefferson scored the first 15 points of the game in just over three minutes of action before Kyler Hiatt put the Tigers on the board with a free throw. The only other points in the period came from backdoor cuts from Garrett Hawk and Zack Harmening in the period. Eli Mullock opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for the Tigers before Jefferson answered with two of its own and was back to the races. By the time the next carnage was over, the Eagles had completed a 13-1 run and were up 44-9.

Zack Harmening took a charge for the Tigers, which seemed to put the brakes on the Jefferson juggernaut for a while. Worth County held Jefferson scoreless for the next four minutes of the period while Todd Harding connected from the baseline and Kyler Hiatt got a putback. Jefferson hit some free throws down the stretch of the first half to lead 47-13 at the break.

The Tigers suffered through snakebite in the third quarter, going without a field goal and only a single free throw as Jefferson once again put on a clinic, including a dunk by standout player Craig Mattson. Worth County held its own against the Jefferson JV in the fourth quarter. Eli Mullock picked up a carom after a scramble and converted a 3-point play in the period; Alex Harmening drove to the rim, missed the shot, but Cole Buffington saved the ball back to him for the layup. Jordan Harding picked up another loose carom and put it in to account for the Tiger scoring for the evening.

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