USJ boys fall in overtime to St. George’s
Holland Hawks and Clayton Hughes waved their arms at the crowd, and the pumped up University School of Jackson fans stood and cheered as the Bruins prepared to resume play.
After falling behind quickly Tuesday night, the Bruins had dominated the third quarter and still held a small lead over a St. George’s team they have ached to beat.
But though the Bruins deserve credit for their initial response, they had failed to tame a beast.
St. George’s guard Chase Hayden scored 47 points, including the final seven of the game, as the Gryphons beat USJ 70-67 in overtime and took a one-game lead in the district standings.
It was USJ’s first loss to a Division II-A West team this year, and the Bruins now need to beat St. George’s (15-7, 9-0) on the road Friday by four points or more to claim the No. 1 seed in the district tournament.
USJ coach Oliver Simmons was clearly frustrated his Bruins couldn’t break through with a win against the defending Division II-A state champions on a night USJ (21-6, 8-1) led by as many as nine points.
“We can’t turn the ball over, and Chase Hayden can’t have 47,” Simmons said. “That’s plain and simple.”
Hayden, named Mr. Football this year and highly recruited as a running back, wasted no time asserting himself Tuesday with 17 first-quarter points.
With his team up 17-11 late in the first quarter, Hayden made a 3 from about 30 feet away. Holding for the final shot of the period, he waited until a couple seconds before the buzzer and did it again.
Simmons said the Bruins too often played off of him.
“I always tell kids ‘Don’t breathe life into somebody’ and they breathed life into him, and now those difficult shots are going to fall because we gave him confidence,” Simmons said.
Brandon Craig scored 10 first-half points and USJ trailed 40-28 at the break, but then the Bruins got busy. Hawks, Hughes and Craig helped close the deficit, and then George Markos made a 3 to cut the deficit to 44-43.
Hughes’ jumper from the elbow put the Bruins ahead by one with 3:16 left in the third quarter, the end of a 17-2 USJ run.
“We had our hand on a lot of balls defensively, which started our fast break. We finished strong at the basket,” Simmons said. “We didn’t let bumps and hits and fouls affect us. We just played really well during that stretch.”
Down 47-45, USJ went on an 11-0 run that featured another 3 from Markos and a bucket from Hughes. But St. George’s scored the next nine points, and it was close from there.
Shon Wooten of St. George’s scored under the rim to tie the game with 49 seconds left.
Markos and Craig scored to put USJ up 67-63 with 1:54 left in overtime, but Hayden hit a pullup 3 immediately, made a go-ahead floater with 37 seconds left, stole the ball with eight seconds left and made two foul shots in the closing seconds.
USJ’s final pass was bobbled, and the Bruins got no shot off.
Simmons said he has “a lot” of confidence his team can perform well Friday in response to Tuesday’s disappointing result.
“This way they’re going to be the ones that have to watch out for us,” he said. “We can play carefree, we can come and attack and we can be aggressive.”
Clayton Hughes led USJ with 28 points. Craig scored 16 and Markos had 13. Hawks scored eight, and Cullen Hughes had two.
Girls
USJ 81, St. George’s 31
Anna Jones led USJ with 28 points and coach Tony Shutes gave his reserves plenty of playing time in a rout of St. George’s. Ashton Hulme added nine points and Sophie Stallings seven for USJ.
The Lady Bruins, ranked No. 1 in all of Division II in Tennessee, have only lost once all year and remain unbeaten against Division II-A West teams.
Craig Thomas, 425-9634