Bruins’ comeback falls short
Both basketball teams from University School of Jackson had a chance to take over or secure the No. 1 seed in their Division II-A West district.
The Lady Bruins finished off the season sweep of St. George’s with a 62-49 win. The girls’ team secured the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye with the win.
The Bruins made a comeback late but ultimately fell short 75-70 to stay in the No. 2 spot in the district.
“Obviously it is always difficult to come back,” USJ coach Oliver Simmons said. “I thought our kids did a great job fighting. We came out in the second half with better energy and effort.”
The St. George’s boys (21-3, 7-0) came out with hot hand, hitting five 3-pointers in the first quarter to open a 14-point lead (24-10) after the first quarter.
Justin Scott, Chase Hayden and Justin Wertner all hit 3-pointers in the quarter.
“Sometimes a team making a runs sucks all of the energy out of you,” Simmons said. “We were not getting out on shooters and not rotating.”
The Bruins (17-7, 6-2) were then forced to play from behind, and with the shooting ability of St. George’s, that would be no easy task.
USJ worked to cut the Gryphons’ lead to six points (31-25) midway through the second quarter behind a 3-pointer by Reagan Beecham (14 points) and two free throws by Clayton Hughes (13 points).
But St. George’s extended the lead back out to 15 points by halftime.
“USJ is a really good basketball team, and they have everything it takes with post players, shooters, a good point guard, and they play the 1-2-2 as good as anyone,” St. George’s coach Jeff Ruffin said. “The key for us early was getting the ball to the middle and kicking it out to open shooters.”
USJ heated up from beyond the arc in the second with Beecham hitting two more 3-pointers in the third quarter, but it was three consecutive 3-pointers hit by Hughes, George Markos (10 points) and Holland Hawks that put USJ back in the game, trailing 65-60 with 4:46 remaining.
Jonathan Adkins hit another 3-pointer with 59 seconds left to cut the lead down to 71-69, and a free throw by Markos cut it to 71-70.
But four St. George’s free throws and a USJ turnover in the middle stopped the Bruins from finishing the comeback.
“We did an amazing job coming back, and our crowd was our sixth man,” Simmons said. “We missed a few assignments late and a turnover with mental errors that cost us down the stretch.”
Wertner led the Gryphons with 22 points, and Chase Hayden added 19.
Girls
USJ 62, St. George’s 49
With USJ post players Ashton Hulme and Taylor Tenpenny picking up a fourth foul each midway through the third quarter, the Lady Bruins (20-4, 7-1) had to be careful with their defensive effort.
St. George’s (11-9, 4-3) made a comeback late in the third quarter to cut the USJ lead to five points (46-41) with eight minutes remaining.
Madeline East was a big part of the Lady Gryphons’ comeback as she hit seven 3-pointers for a game-high 21 points.
Hulme and Tenpenny didn’t foul out as the Lady Bruins played smart defense in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
USJ sophomore Anna Jones scored a team-high 19 points, while Morgan Williams and Hulme added 12 points each.
Michael Odom, 425-9754
Weekly stats
Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to submit individual players’ stats by noon on Thursday each week through the district tournaments in February for inclusion in Friday’s print edition and Thursday night on jacksonsun.com. Stat categories and numbers requested are scoring (total points scored and number of games played), rebounding (total number of rebounds and number of games played), 3-point shooting (3-pointers made and attempted), free throw shooting (free throws made and attempted), steals (total number) and assists (total number). They need to be e-mailed to bjshields@jacksonsun.com or faxed to 731-425-9639. Coaches can contact Brandon for a stat sheet or simply send their stat file.