2023 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament: Jackson’s tough defense wills Indians over Oak Ridge, into semifinal berth

With aspirations of drawing an upset, Oak Ridge brought the battle to Jackson early but couldn’t hold on as the Indians’ stout and physical defense brought them a critical 62-37 victory to advance back into the Southeast Missouri Christmas Tournament semifinals.

Though the game remained close early, the Indians’ big edge in physicality gave them all the gas they needed to fuel a lopsided victory against the typically slick-shooting Oak Ridge Bluejays.

After the game, head coach Kory Thoma sounded off on the importance of his bigs but also the standout defensive performance of son Braedon Thoma in the win.

“That game had to be ugly to watch, as many free throws that were shot,” Thoma said. “Keeping [Konnor Hobeck] down – Braedon Thoma did an amazing job tonight. He locked down [Hobeck] after scoring 39 points last night.

“He got five late, I think he ended up with seven total? For a kid that put up 39 the night before? I don't know how many assists he had tonight, but man – he was the MVP for us.”

After opening the game up 4-0, Oak Ridge stormed back to take a 5-4 lead on a Brock Hobeck 3-pointer as the teams traded leads early.

As Jackson’s shooting woes continued from the game prior, Oak Ridge kept its hat in the ring with some hard drives to the cup as the Indians finished the first quarter with a 13-8 lead.

Defense proved to be the turning point for the Indians early as Jackson brought in the big package, rotating in all four of its post players early on. The points that came trickling in for Oak Ridge earlier began to fall off the board.

With Kole Deck’s NBA-range 3-pointer popping off the back rim and in to finally erase some of the Indians’ shooting woes, they entired the locker room with a 26-11 lead at the half.

Jackson’s three points allowed in the second quarter broke the game wide open for the taking, and the Indians salvaged that opportunity with another 13-point frame.

With multiple players in foul trouble, Jackson went deep to its bench and came away with a great quarter defensively.

“Gavin Holdman was in foul trouble,” Thoma said. “It was huge to have Braden Thompson and Lee Ivy get those minutes for us tonight.

“Tthere's a lot of things that we need to work on still, but at the end of the day, those bigs gave me some big minutes tonight and got a lot of rebounds, so I'm super proud of that.”

Despite a frenzy by Jackson in the second quarter, Oak Ridge responded with a big run of its own to close the gap to 26-18 with four minutes left in the third.

Jackson’s two and-1s – one from Judd Thoma and another from Braden Thompson – brought Jackson’s lead back to 34-18 less than a minute later.

With a 40-25 lead at the end of the third quarter, Jackson relied on its defense to carry it to the victory.

Despite a struggleful shooting performance from most not named Kole Deck, Jackson came away with a 62-37 triumph to return to a third consecutive semifinal game.

Kole Deck led the Indians in scoring once again with a game-high 22-point effort, with Judd Thoma dropping in 14 points behind him to keep the scoring going.

No Bluejay reached double digits in the box score, with Ty Wilson leading scoring with an 8-point night. Konnor Hobeck and Karson Ward both chimed in with seven points each.

Back in the semifinal, Jackson will take on the winner of No. 3 Charleston and No. 6 Kelly, the game that directly follows Jackson’s Wednesday-night outing.

Two teams that are loaded with height, Jackson will need to rely on more than its sizeable defense to carry it to a victory on Thursday night.

Going into the semifinal against a similar team, Thoma knows how talented that either opponent will be and emphasizes the team’s process.

“We’ve played Charleston already,” Thoma said. “Kelly's really good. They’re well-coached, big and their guards are good.

“One thing that we did tonight, and I think it keeps us in games, is our defense. As long as we stay connected defensively and we only give up hard looks and contested shots and we can rebound and go, we're tough to beat.”

__NO. 2 JACKSON 62, NO. 7 OAK RIDGE 37__

Oak Ridge 8 3 14 12 — 37

Jackson 13 13 14 22 — 62

Oak Ridge (37) — Ty Wilson 8, Konnor Hobeck 7, Karson Ward 7, Brock Hobeck 5, Connor Hutteger 4, Kaden Borgfield 3, Cohen Hahs 3. FG: 13. (3-pointers: B. Hobeck 1, K. Hobeck 1, Ward 1)

Jackson (62) — Kole Deck 22, Judd Thoma 14, Gavin Holdman 8, Braden Thompson 7, Keegan Stutzman 4, Kaden Pruitt 3, Kolton Thoma 3, Lee Ivy 1. FG: 25. (3-pointers: Deck 3, Pruitt 1, J. Thoma 1, K. Thoma 1)