AG holds off Jaguars

By JONATHAN GUTH

MVI Sports

Thomas Jefferson had a rough start to open Section 1-5A play Friday, suffering a 55-50 setback at Albert Gallatin.

Thomas Jefferson (1-1, 0-1) cut the deficit to 51-50 with 57 seconds remaining on Evan Berger’s 3-pointer, but the Colonials’ Dylan Shea made 1 of 2 at the foul line and teammate Nate English connected on 3 of 4 at the line to put a stop to the Jaguars’ comeback.

“You want to win every game you play, but the key for us is to be playing our best basketball when the playoffs start,” Thomas Jefferson coach Dom DeCicco said. “I don’t think we played that great tonight.”

Albert Gallatin (1-0, 1-0) jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first 4:15 of the first, as Hunter Sexton opened the scoring, English made a 3-pointer and AJ Blyden excited the limited home crowd with a two-handed slam. Blyden scored again inside before Jake Pugh’s 3-pointer stopped the run. Pugh led Thomas Jefferson in scoring with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. The Jaguars made 10 in the game.

“You can’t get in a hole against a good team, and they are very good,” DeCicco said. “And we had our opportunities. To be honest, we missed a lot of open looks, and I thought we were sleepwalking through most of the first half.”

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