2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Jackson bigs vital in opening win against Bell City

Shaking off the early-morning rust of a Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament 10:30 a.m. tip, the Jackson Indians built an early lead and held firm to take a lopsided 78-31 victory at the Show Me Center to advance to a Wednesday quarterfinal.

Not hitting a 3-pointer in the entire duration of the first half, Jackson used its macho men on the inside to garner an early lead. Holding the Cubs at bay from the post, the Indians pounded the rock to their biggest scoring output of the season to open up the tournament.

“I saw on tape – they weren't a 15-seed anyways,” Indians coach Kory Thoma said. “I wanted the kids to be disciplined. We lost our discipline at times because of their unorthodox style.

“Kudos to them. They’re a physical team. They played a really good pack-line defense. I think that [Bell City coach Luke Bixler] is heading that team in the right direction.”

Neither offense got much going early, but Jackson’s tough work on the interior put the Cubs on their heels early. With a series of scoring drives, the Indians built a 10-2 lead before forcing a timeout with 3:29 left in the first quarter.

Out of the timeout, the Cubs started forcing more drives to the inside and putting Jackson into foul trouble. Down 13 points, Kale Richardson hit a fading 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter on a high note for Bell City down 20-10.

Jackson got the transition game going in the second quarter, and with a trio of Gavin Holdman slams to emphasize the run, the Indians extended their lead to 42-18 at the intermission.

Holdman and Judd Thoma highlight the returning big talent of Jackson, using their large frames to help keep points off the board down low.

With the addition of Braden Thompson and Lee Ivy into the rotation, Jackson’s lethal scorers down low help to keep it afloat when its exterior offense isn’t clicking.

“As soon as we realize we need to step up and be leaders, we do it,” Holdman said. “It does take us a while to finally realize that as a team, but we're getting better with it. As soon as we realize that, we talk it through. Go to the rim, go finish — get stuff done.”

Jackson opened its second half on an 8-0 run to force a Cubs timeout, but the damage didn’t stop there.

The floodgates burst open as Jackson got its offense running to the cup on almost every drive, pushing the squad out to a 68-29 lead after the third quarter.

Sending the reserves in, Jackson got a handful of triples to fall lately but largely relied on the driving efforts of its forwards to take a 78-31 win to start the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament off hot.

Kole Deck, as he frequently has this season, led Jackson with 18 points scored in the win. Following him, Judd Thoma (13) and Gavin Holdman (10) added double-digit points to push Jackson to an important tournament-opening victory against the Cubs.

Baylor Eftink notched the only double-digit scoring performance of the day for Bell City, hitting three 3-pointers in the loss to finish with 11 of the Cubs’ 31 total points. Kale Richardson (6) finished closest to Eftink with his buzzer-beating triple at the end of the first quarter.

After appearing in back-to-back championship games between 2021 and 2022, Jackson’s hot en route to another shot at the crown in 2023.

Now two wins away from another appearance, Thoma hit on a few key points to the Indians’ advancement out of a quarterfinal game against either Oak Ridge or Leopold.

“We'll scout it tomorrow,” Thoma said. “Both teams play a lot of zone. It’ll be a different style of game tomorrow. We need to see zone, to be honest, for my team to get better.

“It's gonna come down to execution tomorrow. I've seen Oak Ridge on tape a few times. They're talented. They’ve got some really good athletes – two 1000-point scorers on that team.

“We’ll be up for the challenge. We're not gonna overlook anybody at this point.”