JCM loses to Ripley in home finale

Jackson Central-Merry’s boys basketball team stayed with Ripley for most of the game, leading for much of the first half and competing well with the visiting Tigers through the third quarter.

Then the fourth quarter started, and Ripley’s shots started falling. That combined with JCM making mistakes, trying to adjust and Ripley taking advantage of opportunities from those adjustments helped the Tigers pull away to a 96-77 win over the Cougars.

It was the final JCM regular season home game, and the last one if JCM isn’t able to secure a home game in the Region 8-AA quarterfinals or a home sectional game, neither of which are givens considering the Cougars will enter the District 15-AA tournament next week as the No. 6 seed of seven teams.

“What happened tonight is similar to how a lot of the season has gone,” JCM head coach Jerry Robertson said. “We play well for a while in the game, and then something will go wrong for a possession or two and it gets to us.

“Then we make more mistakes, fall behind and keep ourselves from getting back into it.”

Ripley entered the fourth quarter with a three-point lead at 57-54. But that changed when the Tigers went on a 13-4 run and led 70-58 with about six minutes to go lead after a couple of steals that led to easy lay-ups and made free throws after fouls.

“Then after they fell behind, they went to their man-to-man defense, and we changed up our offense where we go five out and pass it around until we get an open look,” Ripley head coach Lonnie Starks said. “Our guys did a good job of waiting for those good looks and making the shots when they took them.”

With each shot Ripley made, JCM tried to speed its play up even more by pushing the ball and making long passes close to the goal. The problem with that is Ripley had a player in those passing lanes more times than not, and the Tigers got numerous steals in the final period and got even more easy baskets down the stretch of the game.

“We’ve played a lot of teams close … Liberty, Haywood, North Side,” Robertson said. “Nearly every game we’ve played has been close for two or three quarters, then it comes apart.

“This team is a young team with two seniors and 10 sophomores,” he said. “And closing games and finishing games the way we need to to beat these teams is one step we need to make.”

The Cougars have six days to try to make that improvement as they will travel to the winner of Saturday’s game between Covington and Liberty in the first round of the district tournament. The loser of that game’s season will end.

“It’s do or die time for us now, so we need to take that step in a hurry,” Robertson said. “Who knows? If we do, maybe we can even host another game or two here.”

Famous Jones led Ripley with 34 points, including five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

“Famous is a player who can shoot and is capable of having that type of night, although he probably averages about 17 or 18 a night,” Starks said. “He’s now had three 30-plus nights for us, so he’s shown what he’s capable of.”

Jones was helped by Steven Collins and Travon Alston with 20 and 11 points, respectively.

Caleb Hall led JCM with 17 points, while Bryant Bowers had 14. Shermar Henderson and Montavious Long had 10 apiece.

Girls

Ripley 68, JCM 50

Just like Ripley broke a close game open late in the boys game, the same thing happened in the girls game just before.

Ripley pulled away in the fourth quarter to the victory over the Lady Cougars.

Ripley jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but that advantage didn’t hold very long as the Lady Cougars began hitting shots to get back into the game.

JCM cut the lead to one late in the second quarter and stayed with the Lady Tigers through most of the third quarter before Ripley began hitting easy shots toward the end of the period.

Ripley led 44-34 going into the fourth quarter after finishing the third on a 12-3 run.

Ripley maintained a lead between eight and 12 points during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter until the Lady Tigers pulled away a little more to a 15-point lead.

Deja Chatman led JCM in the loss with 12 points, while K’Lyn Patterson and Adrianna Sails were right behind her with 11 and 10 points.

Amari Currie led Ripley with 20 points, and Shelmesha Barbee had 19. Kebrielle Bonds had 13.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751