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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008
JCCHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Panthers host Jingle Jam Dec. 29
By Brandon Reed
IT WAS another tough week for the Panthers
of Jackson County, as they recorded two loss
es, first to Stephens County on Tuesday, then
to West Hall on Friday.
Now the Panthers look ahead to Dec. 29,
and the chance to play host to the Jingle Jam
tournament with Commerce, Providence and
Hebron Christian taking part.
Jackson County will hit the court at 7:30
p.m. against Hebron to start the tournament
off. The rest of the schedule will be deter
mined by Monday’s results.
Last week started with a roughing up by
the Stephens County Indians in their third
region game of the year. The Panthers had
hoped to be on even footing with the Indians,
who entered the game winless. But instead,
Stephens found their first win, a 51-34 victory
over Jackson County.
Next up was another home stand, this time
against the Spartans of West Hall, who are
currently the fifth ranked team in AAA with a
10-0 record.
The Panthers were hoping for some revenge
over their season opening loss to the Spartans,
and came out swinging from the beginning,
despite playing without starting center Juice
Harrison, who was sidelined with an ACL
injury.
The Panthers came back from an early defi
cit to tie the game 14-14 at the end of the first
quarter, and Jackson County moved ahead to
take the lead early in the second quarter. While
West Hall moved back out front, the Panthers
stayed close, and at the half West Hall held a
slim 31-28 lead.
But the Spartans came out strong in the
third quarter, outscoring Jackson County 25-6
to move ahead 56-34 at the end of the quar
ter. They continued on their rout through the
fourth, and came away with an 85-48 victory.
Joseph Smith led the Panthers in scoring
with 16 points, while Jonathan Baxter recorded
nine and Alex Crawford had eight.
“We had a great first half,” said coach Britt
Beaver. “(The team) played very smart and
executed well. We committed very few turn
overs. In the second half, we just ran out of
gas.
“West Hall is having a great year, and they
have many weapons.”
TAKING A LOOK
Cody Smith gets ready to take a shot at a recent game in Jefferson.
Photo by Blair Buffington
JHS continued from IB
important going into the
Christmas break, especially
with the Georgia-Carolina
Classic at Hart County loom
ing next on the schedule on
Jan. 3.
The Mat Panthers have
won the event the last two
years, and Powers said,
besides being the defending
champs, there’s reason the
event is very important to
them.
“It has most of our area
teams, with the exception of
Morgan County and Eastside.
It's very important for us to
do well at that tournament
and having confidence going
into the Christmas break
helps.”
had no energy when we hit
the floor. We were a step
behind the whole game, and
we really didn’t do much of
anything.”
Despite the problems, the
Dragons found themselves
trailing only by four points,
20-16, at the half.
In the second half, Jefferson
found their energy, and began
attacking the basket better
in the third quarter. Chris
Beck scored eight points
in the quarter. But a blow
to the head off of a Union
County player’s elbow with
about two minutes left in the
quarter would put him on the
sidelines for the rest of the
game.
“(He) had a big knot on
his head, along with being
dizzy,” DuBose said. “I was
worried that he might have a
mild concussion, so we didn’t
put him back in the game.
“That really hurt us,
because he was the one guy
at the time that was really
attacking the basket.”
The hard work by the
Dragons paid off, and they
found themselves lead
ing 27-26 at the end of the
third quarter. But the energy
they had found after the half
seemed to slip away, opening
the door for Union County.
Once the Panthers regained
the lead in the game, they
began holding the ball, and
again controlling the tempo
as they held Jefferson to
seven points in the quarter.
In the end, that was what
it took to put away a 38-34
win.
Beck led the Dragons in
scoring with 10 points, while
Darius Minor scored seven
on the night.
“I told the kids after the
game I thought we took a
step backwards,” DuBose
said. “We just were not ready
to play, and that’s every
body's fault, including mine.
I obviously did not get them
ready to play, mentally or
physically.”
DuBose said he felt that
defensively, it was a poor
effort on the Dragons’ part.
“The result was, they pretty
much controlled the tempo
of the game all night. They
slowed the game down, which
is what they wanted to do,
and that limited the number
of possessions that we had.
“Offensively, I thought
we kind of played into their
hands. When we came down
on offense, we took a lot of
quick shots, took a lot of
three pointers in the first half.
At halftime, we were 2-13
outside the three-point line.”
Jefferson also went 3-9
from the free throw line
against the Panthers on the
night.
“We shot poorly from the
field, partially because we
took bad shots, but partial
ly because it was just one
of those nights that we just
didn’t shoot well,” DuBose
said. “I told the guys I really
can’t think of anything we
did well.
“It was just a very, very
poor effort on our part. I
hope we learned something
from it. If we did and can
make sure it doesn’t hap
pen again, then maybe it was
worth it to get beat.”
DuBose said the loss was a
team effort.
“You have team efforts
to win, and you have team
efforts that are losses.
Everybody contributed to the
loss, including the coaches.
We’ll learn something from
it and bounce back.”
DuBose said he thinks the
Christmas break is coming at
a good time for his team.
“Some of those guys that
played football need a break,”
he said. “They’re going to get
about four days off in a row.
We’ll get back to work on
Friday.”
MOVING OUT
Alex Crawford holds a West Hall defender at bay early on in Friday’s game.
Photo by Brandon Reed
Panthers continued from IB
BRIEFLY
Jackson County night at UGA basketball
THE UNIVERSITY of Georgia Bulldog bas
ketball will be presenting Jackson County night,
featuring ticket discounts for Jackson County
Chamber of Commerce members, employees as
well as family members.
The discount will allow for the purchase of
$1 tickets for the women’s game against Florida
on March 1.
For more information, email pcarden@sports.
uga.edu, or log onto www.georgiadogs.com.
Fa,..La...La...
La...La! >,
A Note of Thanks
We 'd like to throw in a chorus of thanks for your kind patronage and wish you and yours a glorious season filled with love and harmony. Happy Holidays!
4
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