Final-minute touchdown by Southwestern drops East, 37-30

Comment by Watchdog: Friday, September 10

I knew it - East Jessamine always were Colts at heart!...read more...

Final-minute touchdown by Southwestern drops East, 37-30

Comment by zerovic: Thursday, September 9

Kind of looks like Mr. Stark had gotten bored reporting about East Jessamine in the third to last pa...read more...

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Finally someone else running against her! Joseph Hagen, you have my vote and my support for your cam...read more...

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The first battle between county rivals came earlier than expected Wednesday, Dec. 23, when West Jessamine hosted East Jessamine in the finals of the Jessamine Invitational. The Colts (8-4) got off to a fast start and never looked back as they topped the Jaguars (6-6) 84-67 to win the tournament.

West has won five in a row since dropping its first three. It beat Lewis County 99-40 in the afternoon semifinals. East had won its first three games in the tournament, including a 63-57 win over Estill County earlier in the day.

The Colts pulled ahead in a fast-paced first quarter. After Jarrod Polson started the scoring with a free throw, Camron Thomas scored to put the Jags ahead 2-1. A Kyle Mefford 3-pointer put the Colts up 4-2, and they led the rest of the way. Mefford followed with a long two and another three, scoring all eight of his points in the first quarter and helping West build a 24-15 advantage at the end of the period.

"One of the things we talked about before the game is that the first three minutes was crucial," East coach Chris O'Bryan said. "You can't let them get out to a good start ... As a team, as well-coached and fundamentally sound as they are, it's hard to get your way back into it."

Both teams had played games the previous two nights and during the day Wednesday, but neither coach thought fatigue was a factor in the game.

"When East and West play, I don't think anybody's tired," West coach Damon Kelley said. "The kids are going to be up and ready to play."

After torrid shooting in the first quarter, the Colts cooled off in the second but compensated by crashing the offensive boards. They out-rebounded the Jags 38-22 in the game.

"We're bigger than them; we're older than them," Kelley said. "We should dominate the boards. If we don't, then they out-worked us, and that can't happen."

East fell behind 30-18 on two Gus Sherrow free throws in the middle of the second quarter and then put together its first and only run of the first half with consecutive baskets by senior Kyle Lamb and sophomore Cody Collins to pull within eight points. But West responded with a 6-0 run of its own, pushing the lead to 14 at 36-22 on a Polson lay-up with a minute left in the half.

"They were hurting us on the boards, but the penetration was killing us," O'Bryan said. "They were getting lay-up after lay-up, and that was really the theme of the whole game — the penetration and giving up too many easy buckets."

A long jumper by Lamb made the halftime score 36-24.

East sophomore Camron Thomas led all scorers with nine points at the break. Lamb had seven points for the Jags.

The Colts were led at the half by Mefford's eight; Polson and Sherrow had seven each, and junior Dylan Pohl added six.

The Jags had a scary moment just a few minutes into the second half when junior stand-out Jordan Redd attempted to intercept a Colt pass and crashed loudly into an empty section of the stands. After being tended to for several minutes, he walked off the court holding his right arm tenderly. He returned to the floor later wearing a sling but came out of the locker room after the game saying he was in no pain.

"Hopefully, nothing's broken," O'Bryan said. "He hit it really well; there's a big knot on his shoulder, but he's a trooper. He'll keep fighting through, and he'll be all right."

The teams traded buckets for several minutes before West went on a 12-3 run in which Polson scored seven points and capped off the run by assisting Pohl on a three-point play. The Colts took their largest lead of the night at 56-35 with 58 seconds left in the period. Three-pointers by Micheal Rexroat and Lamb for East and Sherrow for West made the score 59-41 going into the final period.

The Jags came out in the fourth quarter with an intensity they hadn't shown all game. They started pressing full court and trapping in the half court, forcing two West turnovers in the first three minutes of the period and using a Lamb three, two Thomas buckets and two Collins free throws to pull within 11 points at 61-50 with 6:23 left in the game.

"That's the same intensity we want the whole game, but for whatever reason, they didn't have it," O'Bryan said. " ... If we can learn to do that for 32 minutes, I like our chances against anybody."

But with the Jags pressing, the Colts began to move the ball better and find senior David Elliott unguarded underneath their hoop. Elliott scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, including four fast-break lay-ups behind the East press. Elliott's 20 points in the game tied with Sherrow for the team lead.

"Once you get the ball out in the open court two on one, it's hard to stop us," Elliott said. "Coach put is in a good position to win, and we just executed."

East got to the free-throw line to score in the fourth quarter, making eight of 12 attempts after going to the line only four times in the first three periods.

But it wasn't enough, as West pushed the lead to 18 twice in the final minutes and won the Jessamine Invitational championship game 84-67.

The Jags were led by Lamb with 21 and Thomas with 19. Micheal Rexroat added 10. After Elliott and Sherrow with 20 each, Polson scored 14 and Pohl scored 11 for the Colts.

Kelley said the key to West’s turnaround was playing better defense.

"We're playing harder; that's the biggest thing," he said. "I didn't think that the first three games of the year we were playing with a sense of urgency and sense of intensity that you need to win a basketball game, and I think the kids are starting to understand that ... I told the coaches afterward — we're a good basketball team right now, but we're not going to become a really good basketball team until we get better on the defensive end, and that's what we have to keep preaching to the kids. That's what's going to take us to another level."

O'Bryan said his team dug a hole early and then made too many mental mistakes.

"We've got a lot of work to do; we understand that," he said. "We're going to see them two more times, at least, and hopefully, the next time, we'll be more prepared and willing to take more charges and prevent the lay-ups."

The two teams meet again in district play Jan. 8 at East Jessamine.

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