Jaguars down Colonials in OT
By Jose Negron
jnegron@yourmvi.com
With revenge on its mind following an early season loss to Albert Gallatin in January, Thomas Jefferson dominated in overtime Tuesday to capture a 68-59 victory over the visiting Colonials in Section 1-5A play.
The Jaguars (10-2, 2-2), who have now won nine of their last 10 games, outscored AG (6-3, 4-2) by a 12-3 margin in the extra four minutes. TJ scored the first eight points of overtime and went 8 for 8 from the free throw line in the final minute to seal the victory.
“It’s never easy, but that was a great win,” Thomas Jefferson head coach Dom DeCicco said. “These kids are mentally tough and they just battled and battled tonight.”
Not only did the Jaguars avenge their loss to the Colonials from a month ago, but they also found a way to bounce back after suffering their second loss of the season at Laurel Highlands Friday.
“I thought we had two really great days of practice, but what I was most happy with is how we responded during our film sessions,” DeCicco said. “Laurel Highlands won Friday, but we let them do a lot of things and were disappointed in ourselves. The detail tonight was outstanding. They set great screens, they ran their sets and the pick and roll was working beautifully.”
TJ was led by a balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures. Ethan Dunsey and Evan Berger each netted 12 points to lead the way for the Jaguars, while Jake Pugh and Jordan Mayer chipped in with 11 apiece.
“We aren’t going to have a 15-point per game scorer, but we will have someone around 12, 11, 10 or nine,” DeCicco said. “No one can really just focus on one guy. I like how we spread the ball around and that’s a big reason why we’re 10-2 right now.”
The two teams went into halftime tied at 30-30 and neither side took much of an edge in the third quarter.
The Jaguars had a five-point lead on two separate occasions in the opening four and a half minutes before the Colonials rallied back to cut their deficit to one with just over two minutes left.
AG trimmed into TJ’s second five-point edge behind a short 6-2 spurt in which Hunter Sexton hit a 3-pointer, Dylan Shea added a layup and AJ Blyden went 1 for 2 from the free throw line.
AG was held scoreless in the final two minutes, however, as Pugh added an inside jumper and Mayer followed up his own miss with a putback to give TJ a 45-40 lead after three quarters.
The Colonials tied the game within the first two minutes of the fourth as Nate English scored four points during a 7-2 run. Sexton, who led AG with 18 points, added one of his six 3-pointers to make it 47-47 with 6:20 left in regulation.
TJ scored four of the next seven points to grow its lead to 51-50 before Aidan Kelly hit a clutch trey to make it a four-point game.
Ja’Shir Kean answered by scoring on each of the next two possessions for AG before Kelly and Shea exchanged layups to make it 56-56 with under three minutes to go.
Both teams had chances to capitalize on the offensive end of the floor late in regulation. Instead, they went scoreless in the final 2:39 to force overtime.
Pugh and Ian Hansen were the leading contributors in OT as each scored four points. Hansen, who is shooting just under 80% from the free throw line this season, went 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.
“Against Laurel Highlands, I don’t think we were tough to play against,” DeCicco said. “I thought tonight we were tough to play against in that second half.”
TJ started the game out slow as it went behind 10-2 in the opening three minutes of the game.
While Dunsey scored the first bucket in the first minute, the Jaguars didn’t score again until Mayer converted in close with under four minutes left in the frame.
After Blyden countered with a fastbreak dunk, Mayer scored the next three points before Berger hit a 3-pointer to make it a two-point deficit for TJ.
“When you lose, you always lose a little bit of confidence,” DeCicco said. “I give these kids credit, though, because they fought back.”
AG, which maintained that two-point edge at 17-15 after one quarter, began the second on a 6-0 run behind a 3-pointer by Sexton and a three-point play by English.
TJ quickly countered with a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 26-23 as four different players scored, including Dunsey who had four of his points.
A 7-1 run allowed AG to claw back and regain the lead in the final minutes, but Berger hit one of his four first-half 3-pointers to tie the game heading into the break.
“The moment is never too big for the kid, which is impressive for a freshman,” DeCicco said of Berger. “He’s got a long way to go, but he’s getting better and better every game.”
Sexton was one of four AG players in double figures as he was joined by English (12), Shea (11) and Blyden (10).
“We watched them against North Allegheny (in a 77-71 loss on Jan. 23) and they are so good and talented,” DeCicco said. “They’re not 6-3 because they stink. They’re very good, they’re very well coached, their size presents problems and they have two very good guards.”
TJ resumes play Friday at Connellsville.
