February 14, 2015
NMCC back in conference hunt after outlasting Jackson
sports@standard-democrat.com NEW MADRID -- The last time New Madrid County Central faced a conference opponent, things got ugly. With the league's top team entering their home court on Friday, NMCC needed a win to stay afloat in the conference race and erase the bad taste of Poplar Bluff's 34-point win 10 days before...
By Chris Pobst - Standard Democrat
sports@standard-democrat.com
NEW MADRID -- The last time New Madrid County Central faced a conference opponent, things got ugly.
With the league's top team entering their home court on Friday, NMCC needed a win to stay afloat in the conference race and erase the bad taste of Poplar Bluff's 34-point win 10 days before.
The Eagles did both. Barely.
NMCC thwarted a late Jackson surge and hung on for a 74-72 win on homecoming night, placing them in a three-way tie for first place within the SEMO Conference.
"After that Bluff game I challenged the guys really hard, win, lose or draw I've got to see good basketball," NMCC head coach Travis Day said. "That Bluff loss, it bothered me. Not the loss, but how we played. They came at us, they got physical with us, they knocked us down and we just wilted. You can't have that this time of year.
"You got to be playing hard and with effort and get after it. We bounced back from that. Hopefully we'll keep bouncing back."
NMCC, Jackson and Notre Dame -- following their 63-59 win over Poplar Bluff -- are all 5-2 in conference play. NMCC hosts Sikeston on Tuesday, Jackson travels to Kennett Feb. 20 and Notre Dame takes on Dexter Feb. 24. There are no tiebreakers for the regular season championship.
"That's a goal," NMCC senior Asten Newsom said about winning the SEMO Conference. "We're trying to get as many accolades as we can this season."
With a win over NMCC, Jackson would not only remain in the conference standing driver's seat, they'd almost be handed the keys. Jackson entered Friday's game with just one conference loss and Kennett, the only team without a conference win, left to play.
"We can't win it outright," Jackson senior Braden Wendel said. "We'll go down to Kennett and try to win that one so we can at least split it. Maybe we'll get lucky and New Madrid will drop it's next game. We know we can't control that anymore at this point. It's a little upsetting."
Newsom and all-state guard Willie Jimerson led NMCC with 21 points. Jimerson also had a team-high nine rebounds while Newsom grabbed seven. Drew Palmer added 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range including two during a crucial run in the fourth quarter.
Led by Newsom and Palmer, the rest of NMCC's flock helped carry the scoring load which usually rests with their leading scorer, Jimerson.
"That's when we're good," Day said. "If you look at our losses, those guys didn't step up for us then. When those guys have good nights that's when we're tough. Then teams can't just put their focus on (Jimerson). Those guys had great nights and that's what we need at this point in the year."
Braden Wendel and Connor Shepard led Jackson with 18 points. Blake Reynolds, the 6-7 senior who is committed to Yale, was limited to 13 points and 10 rebounds against the much smaller Eagles lineup.
"We were little gnats on him," Day said about guarding Reynolds. "Sometimes it hurts big guys when they don't have nobody their size. He's standing tall and we've got guys at his waist. I think that kind of bothered him. He couldn't go anywhere because every time he put the ball on the floor we had somebody flying at him."
Wendel was 7 of 11 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds. Shepard was 7 of 10 shooting but 2 of 12 from the free throw line -- an area Jackson struggled.
The Indians, a team that shoots 74 percent as a team, went 15 of 32 (46 percent) from the charity stripe. They were 5 of 17 in the first half.
"That happens and it's to the point where we're not down at the half and we're not having to scratch and fight for everything that we get," Wendel said about his team's free throw woes. "That's something we should be able to knock down. That hurt us for sure."
The game featured eight ties and seven lead changes. NMCC held the night's biggest margin at eight points with 1:03 left to play. That's when Jackson made its final push with the help of a few careless turnovers from the Eagles.
After Jacob Friess hit two free throws to make it a 71-65 game, NMCC turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions. An offensive put-back and the foul on Reynolds cut the Eagles' lead to just three with just over 30 seconds to go.
A pass fell right into the hands of Shepard who took it in for an open layup bringing Jackson within one with 28 seconds left.
"We threw the ball away and it was just silly," Day said.
Jimerson made sure the ball was in his hands the next possession and he was fouled after five second ran off the clock. He sank both free throws for a 73-70 advantage.
Jackson (18-6) took its time to set up their next attempt starting their final play with 15 seconds remaining. As Wendel came off a screen from Reynolds, the senior looked towards his 6-7 teammate but saw Shepard alone for the moment in the corner. Shepard had a decent look but his potential tying shot was off the mark. Jimerson ended up with the rebound and was fouled with six seconds remaining.
"We wanted Braden to bring it up and Blake was going to ball screen for him," Jackson head coach Darrin Scott said. "We were hoping Braden coming off the ball screen if he was open shoot it, but we were hoping he might draw them and Blake pop and get the three. We wanted our other guys to be in the corners. We just didn't get in the spots we needed to right then."
Jimerson hit the front end of his two foul shots giving Jackson an opportunity to possibly score quickly. Shepard scored on an offensive putback but time ran out as soon as the bucket cleared.
"They put their pressure on us and we kind of panicked for about a minute," said Day. "We started making quick mistakes. But we got our composure and got everybody in the right spot and we were able to knock some free throws down."
Jackson has never won the SEMO Conference regular season championship back-to-back years. They won the conference title and tournament last season after a six-year drought as the league's sole champion.
"We can still have a share of it and that will still be something that's not happened," Scott said. "They wanted to win tonight. I thought our intensity was at a level of wanting to win. We just needed to make a few better plays early, make some free throws and just make a few more plays down the stretch where we needed to."
After five ties and two lead changes, each team scored 20 at the end of the first quarter. NMCC went ahead by as many as six points throughout the second quarter and led 38-33 at the half.
Jackson's Jacob Smith scored nine of his 11 points in the third quarter to give the Indians their first lead since the first quarter. Smith hit two free throws with 5:08 left in the frame to give Jackson a 44-43 edge. After a Palmer 3-pointer, Smith added one more free throw and immediately swiped a ball away for NMCC's fourth turnover of the quarter and hit Wendel for an open layup for a 47-46 advantage.
Jackson went up by as many as five points later one but a 3-pointer by NMCC's Chris Farr sparked an 8-2 run that would give the Eagles a 57-53 lead going into the fourth.
"I saw the New Madrid team that ended up winning the SEMO Conference championship," said Wendel. "They came in and knew what they were going to do. They were showing everything. When you have to worry about Willie getting in the paint, got to worry about Palmer knocking down three's in the corner and Asten rebounding, they're a very good team for sure."
Jackson slightly out-rebounded NMCC 25-24. They also clipped the Eagles in shooting percentage at 55 percent (27 of 49).
NMCC shot 53 percent (26 of 49) but was 7 of 13 from 3-point range (53 percent) where Jackson was 20 percent (3 of 15). NMCC shot 65 percent from the floor in the first half.
"The played really well the first half," Scott said about NMCC. "The first quarter they made shots and were active defensively. I was proud of our kids being down and coming back and taking the lead. They just made some big shots when they needed to."
Jackson 20 13 20 19 -- 72
NMCC 20 18 19 17 -- 74
JACKSON (72) -- Jacob Friess 2, Garrett Walker 6, Braden Wendel 18, Jacob Smith 11, Blake Reynolds 13, Connor Shepard 18, Cameron Hester 4. FG 27, FT 15-32, F 17. (3-pointers: Wendel 2, Reynolds 1. Fouled out: none.)
NMCC (74) -- Willie Jimerson 21, Mikael Walker 2, Kiel Causey 3, Javarcus Word 6, Chris Farr 3, Drew Palmer 14, Asten Newsom 21, Vontre Jones 4. FG 26, FT 15-24, F 24. (3-pointers: Causey 1, Word 1, Farr 1, Palmer 4. Fouled out: Walker.)
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