Jackson advances by Hornets

Nothing came easy for Jackson or Advance Thursday night.

Perhaps that's why both teams wanted a victory so much.

Third-seeded Jackson chalked up a payback with a 51-50 win over No. 6 Advance in a hard-fought University High Christmas Tournament quarterfinal thriller.

The Indians, who lost to Advance in last year's tournament final, were able to hold off a Hornet squad that simply wouldn't go away.

Jackson led by as many as seven points on four occasions in the first half, but Advance hung in and the game came down to the final two possessions.

Trailing 50-49 for almost the final two minutes of the game, Jackson forced a turnover with about 35 seconds left. With 29 seconds remaining, the Indians called a timeout to set up a play.

Senior Seth McDowell got the ball at the left low block and scored with 17 seconds left to give Jackson a 51-50 lead.

"Last night, Seth had three first-quarter fouls and he was frustrated about that," said Jackson coach Mike Kiehne. "But when we needed him tonight, he was there."

"I was open when I got the ball," said McDowell, who finished with a team-high 15 points. "But they collapsed three guys real fast and I just barely got it to go in."

Advance coach Jim Hall saw the turn of events a bit differently.

"Jackson was quicker than I thought they were and they beat us down the court on transition," he said. "And we knew they were strong inside and they beat us on the boards and we knew that would be a problem. But even with all of that, we had a win at the end if the official would've called an obvious charge.

"It was so obvious even coach Kiehne said it was a charge. The official said he wasn't going to call it to decide the game. Well, by not calling it, he did decide the game."

Advance's Jared Ritter quickly pushed the ball up the court and fired a 3-pointer that missed, but the Hornets came up with an offensive rebound and a foul on the play allowed them, after two timeouts, to inbound the ball under the basket with seven seconds remaining.

The pass inbounds was deflected by Matt Neal, who then made a diving save on the right sideline, wisely deflecting it to the Indians' side of the court to run out the remaining clock.

"He laid out for the team," said Kiehne. "He was fully extended and still had the thought to hit it to our end of the court. A lot of kids would have pulled up on that. But my guys play hard. They're not afraid of the floor."

On the inbound play, Jared Ritter, who scored a game-high 21, was supposed to come off a double screen.

"They switched on both and rolled," said Ritter. "Jackson played real good defense there and caused us to throw it away."

Advance trailed for the entire second half until Jared Ritter, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit a three with 2:48 left to tie the game at 48. On the next possession, Ritter hit a two to put Advance up 50-49.

Jackson led 45-39 going into the fourth quarter.

Advance had more success in the second half than it did in the first half, but the Hornets struggled all night to find open shots.

Both teams struggled a bit offensively in the first quarter, with Advance failing to make a field goal in the final 4:47 of the period. Jackson finished the quarter on a 12-4 run and led 15-10 after the first eight minutes.

The Hornets started hitting some shots in the second quarter and pulled to within one late in the second. Jackson led 32-29 at halftime. Both teams shot less than 40 percent from the field in the half.

Lance Bollinger and Jeffrey Beck both scored 11 points for Jackson.

After Ritter, no other player scored in double figures for Advance.