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Fourth time was not the charm.

Despite closing the distance each of the previous three times the two teams met, the East Jessamine boys’ basketball team could not pull the upset over defending district champ, West Jessamine. The Colts advanced to the title game and to the region tournament with a 92-68 win at East Tuesday night.

The Colts (22-7) were lifted by their bench, getting at least a bucket from nine different players.

East (15-14) struggled defensively, unable to find an answer for the plethora of weapons the Colts brought to bear.

“That’s why I think we can be really good is because we have several pieces,” West Coach Damon Kelley said. “We’re not just the Jarrod Polson Show. He’s a special player, but we have good basketball players around him.”

Polson finished the game with 24 points and 11 assists. Dylan Pohl tossed in 12 while pulling down 13 rebounds.

David Elliot added 11 points, picking up most of those early, since foul trouble forced him to the bench.

“David’s start was huge,” Kelley said. “He had to watch most of the second half, but the way he played in the first quarter really contributed to the lead and helped us build on it.”

Bradley Strait scored 10 points while Sean Donaldson and Kyle Mefford each added eight.

The balanced attack from the Colts put East on its heels.

“We didn’t do some rotations in the first half and got down a little bit and then it snowballed from there,” East Coach Chris O’Bryan said.

Neither team expected the first-round district tournament game to get out of hand.

“We came in here with all the positive attitude and notions in the world,” O’Bryan said. “Especially after the last couple times we played them. We knew they were playing well. We felt like we were playing, coming off a three-game winning streak. We thought we could give them our best shot.”

“The first district game is always the hardest,” Kelley said. “East has a heckuva team and for us to get the lead and maintain to get a win like we did tonight was quite an accomplishment. I would have been thrilled to death to get out of here with a one-point win.”

Kyle Lamb scored a game-high 27 points in the loss. Dusty Webb added 15 points. Jordan Redd added 12 points while grabbing nine rebounds.

Part of the Colts success in pulling away from the Jags, was keeping Michael Rexroat to just two points for the game.

“They had to keep an eye on Michael,” O’Bryan said. “They did a good job on him. The open looks he did get, he was rushing them. That was really attributed to the fact that every time he caught ball, someone was right there in his face. That forced him to rush it a bit.”

East season ends

The Jaguars have a bright future since the club loses only one senior off this year’s team. The problem for East is that the lone senior was a major cog in the machine.

“I don’t think people realize how vital Kyle really is,” O’Bryan said. “The young guys are really going to have to step up next year to replace him. It’s hard to replace somebody who works as hard as he does.”

Even though the Jaguars fell in the first round of the district tournament, O’Bryan is quick to call the season a success.

“I give my kids all the credit in the world,” he said. “They accomplished things nobody thought they would. We lost six seniors off last year’s team. Nobody thought we’d have a winning record and we did. I’m proud of every one of them.”

Part of that success he owes to Lamb’s effort.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Kyle Lamb,” O’Bryan said. “Being the lone senior — and that’s tough, especially on a young team — he handled it all year. He’s one of the foundations of this team.”

West season continues

The Colts now have a shot at defending their district and region crowns.

They face Mercer County (19-8) Friday at 7 p.m. The teams split their regular season meetings, with each team winning at home. Mercer won Jan. 6 68-64, but the Colts won 88-74 Jan. 22.

The Colts and Titans meet on neutral ground at East Jessamine. Both teams advance to the 12th region tournament regardless of Friday’s outcome.

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