Jays avenge loss to Jackson

Charleston's Gregory Tucker drives through the Jackson defense Tuesday night. Tucker led the Bluejays with 21 points in Charleston's 70-57 win. Chris Pobst, Staff

CHARLESTON -- It was a bit different than Charleston and Jackson's first game against each other in the SEMO Conference tournament.

In the conference consolation game earlier this season, the Charleston Bluejays could not seem to slow down Jackson's offense in the Indians' 73-58 victory.

However on Tuesday night, the Bluejays wore Jackson into submission with their full-court pressure as they avenged that earlier season loss with a 70-57 win at Charleston High School.

"We just really kind of wanted to get back at them," Charleston sophomore Gregory Tucker said. "We just wanted to come out and get at them from the tip."

Although Charleston would eventually come out on top, the Indians made it interesting in two instances throughout the contest.

A fast-paced, back-and-forth first quarter that not one foul was called in led to a 1-point Jackson lead at the end of the period. The lead changed hands eight different times in the first eight minutes after a 3-pointer from Charleston's Jerry Carter gave the Bluejays a 9-8 advantage. Baskets were traded from that point until the Indians held a 16-15 lead going into the second quarter.

The second quarter, however, was when the Bluejays began to distance themselves with their extreme pressure. A 3-pointer by Tucker sparked a 9-0 run for Charleston that led to a 26-18 lead. The Bluejays picked off eight steals in the second period which almost all led to points. Charleston forced a total of 14 turnovers in the first half while Jackson struggled to cause any disturbances with just three.

"We really wanted to get on them and pressure them in the full-court," said Tucker. "We wanted to get on the boards and push the tempo too. We wanted to try and wear them out, which we kind of did."

Although faced with an eight-point deficit at the half, Jackson slowly crept back into contention in the third quarter. A bucket by Jackson junior Bobby Clark made it a 35-33 game in favor of Charleston. The Indians would come within two points twice more in the quarter but could not get any closer.

The Bluejays (7-11) held on to their lead at the end of the third quarter after an impressive up and under layup by Charleston senior Deonte Jones and a 1-of-2 performance from the free throw line by Tucker. The Bluejays had a 47-42 lead heading into the final quarter.

An 8-3 run to start the fourth quarter gave Charleston a 10-point lead with just over six minutes still left. Turnovers caused by the Bluejays eventually led to them pulling away from Jackson by as much as 17 points in the final minutes of the contest.

"Their pressure got to us," Jackson head coach Darrin Scott said. "In those two stretches that was pretty much the difference in the game. When we turned it over they pushed their lead back up. That was a big key for them."

Charleston forced the Indians into a total of 19 turnovers throughout the game -- 14 of those were steals. Jones came away with four steals while Demarques McKeller grabbed three to lead the Bluejays in that department. Jackson, however, caused Charleston to turn it over just seven times.

"We put a lot of pressure on them and wore them down at the end," Charleston head coach Danny Farmer said. "They got fatigued towards the end. We made them work the whole game for 32 minutes. That's not easy to do. In the end your going to get a little tired and that's our game plan. We wanted to make them work."

Once Jackson (11-9) had a chance to score around the pressure they were dealing with they scored fairly often. They shot 49 percent (23-of-47) from the field and had a big contribution from Clark, who led all scorers with 27 points and grabbed the most rebounds of anyone with 12.

"I thought he did a good job of not forcing but yet being aggressive," Scott said about Clark. "He scored well around the basket, rebounded and really finished around the basket."

Charleston, who shot 48 percent (30-of-63) from the field, received double digit scoring from three different players. Tucker led them all with 21 points while McKeller added 17 and Jones added 14 in the win.

The Bluejays struggled from behind the arc hitting just 3-of-17 (17 percent) from 3-point range. Although, Charleston did a good job of getting second chances around the basket and was only out-rebounded by one (27-26) to a much taller Jackson squad.

"We didn't shoot it well," Farmer said. "But, we got some inside buckets. When that outside shot didn't fall we wanted to try and concentrate on scoring inside.

"We struggle with big, tall teams and we know that," Farmer added. "We realize to win the game we're going to have to play well."

Charleston's next game will be Feb. 12 at Portageville due to a cancellation of their game against Henry County this Friday.

JACKSON (57) -- Caleb Newcomer 10, Tyler Rhodes 2, Cole Pingel 8, Law Duncan 2, Bobby Clark 27, John Meyer 8. FG 23 FT 9-12 F 9. (3-pointers: Newcomer 2. Fouled out: none.)

CHARLESTON (70) -- Ryan Parham 2, Jerry Carter 3, Gregory Tucker 21, Claude Armstrong 5, Deonte Jones 14, Demarques McKeller 17, Devonte Johnson 6, Fabreizio Wright 2. FG 30 FT 7-14 F 13. (3-pointers: Carter 1, Tucker 2. Fouled out: none.)