SportsMarch 14, 2015
Jackson boys basketball team falls to SLUH in Class 5 quarterfinal
Jackson didn't have an answer for the Junior Billikens on two late possessions and ran out of time in a 58-50 loss in a Class 5 quarterfinal at Hyland Arena.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- It wasn't the start the Jackson boys basketball team had envisioned against St. Louis University High School on Saturday night.
But after falling behind early and trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, the Indians cut the deficit to just three points with 1 minute, 49 seconds to play in the game.
After a missed 3-pointer by Jackson's Blake Reynolds, Connor Shepard grabbed a rebound, scored on a putback and was fouled. The senior added a free throw for the three-point play to make it 50-47.
However, Jackson didn't have an answer for the Junior Billikens on its next two possessions and ran out of time in a 58-50 loss in a Class 5 quarterfinal at Hyland Arena.
"That was a huge play when Connor hits that 3," said Reynolds, a senior. "We thought, 'We're right back in it,' when he did, and we were for a little while. That really got the crowd back into it, but we couldn't get over that final hump. We were hoping for a stop before we had to foul them, but they really started beating our press at the end and worked it right around us."
After SLUH increased its lead to 54-47 with 59 seconds to play, Jackson scored the next three points to get within five and called a timeout.
The Indians tried to get a steal but had to foul instead.
The Junior Bills ended the game on a 4-0 run, including two free throws to pull out the win.
"After that timeout we just wanted to run," SLUH coach Erwin Claggett said. "They were pressuring us so hard all game, and I really wasn't sure how that would fair for us in the end. Luckily we got it past half court, they foul us and we make some free throws and some baskets to close it out."
Jackson missed two free throws in the final two minutes of the game and turned the ball over twice.
"We wanted to steal and not foul [Matthew] Nester," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "We wanted to foul the other kids, but they did give us some misses. They gave us some opportunities to get a rebound and do something with it. I really believe that's why we're able to hang around, but we couldn't get it done. We couldn't hit shots and we made too many mistakes."
Their biggest mistake came at the 5:33 mark of the third.
Jackson senior Braden Wendel made one of two free throws to begin the second half, but two minutes later, Reynolds was called for a foul on Hunter Schmidt. After the whistle, Reynolds tossed the ball towards the hoop in disgust. The ball hit the bottom of the rim and bounced back before he was called for a technical foul.
Schmidt made his free throw. Nester followed Schmidt's conventional three-point play with two free throws, giving SLUH its largest lead of the game at 35-18.
"It was just kind of a thing that I've kind of formed a habit of doing," said Reynolds, who was trying to throw the ball up through the hoop but accidentally hit the rim. "I've never been called for doing anything like that before, but I shouldn't have been doing that. He called me for it, so I've got to face it, I guess. It definitely set us back some, and I told everybody that it was my fault for coming out and getting us down in that hole early in that third quarter, but my teammates responded well to it."
SLUH coach Erwin Claggett said the five points his team scored on one play gave the Junior Bills an advantage later in the game.
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"That was key because we knew they were going to make a run," Claggett said. "With a young club, you kind of find ways to make mistakes and we did, but I think that run really helped not make those things at the end matter so much. We got that three-point play and then unfortunately for them they got the technical. But it was good for us. We were able to score, and I thought that really kind of skimmed us out a little bit because they were really coming after us at the end of the second quarter."
The Indians fell behind 10-2 early on and never led in the game.
Nester scored the Junior Bills' first four points of the game and SLUH held Jackson without a basket for the first three minutes.
The Indians cut the lead to 10-4, but SLUH's Davion Nash hit back-to-back 3-pointers to close out the first and give the Junior Bills a 16-9 lead.
"I thought they hurt us. They played really well early," Jackson coach Darrin Scott said. "You've got to give them credit. Nash played really well, made some big shots for them early. But the key for us was to get offensive rebounds and they hurt us there. We did a better job of it in the second half with that, but that's pretty much the game in the first half when they out-rebounded us."
SLUH began the second with an 8-3 run and outscored the Indians 12-8 and trailed 28-17 at halftime.
Jackson was only outrebounded 16-13 at halftime but allowed seven offensive boards and 10 second-chance points.
"That was one of the keys for us tonight, and we didn't come out and do what we needed to on the boards," Reynolds said. "There was a lot of physicality, a lot of things not being called down there, but I mean, that's basketball. We had to play through it, and we just couldn't work our way through it or get shots to fall when we needed them to."
Hunter Schmidt scored 15 points to lead the Junior Bills and had nine rebounds.
"He offensive rebounded great. That was the biggest thing he did," Scott said about Schmidt. "Getting him off the boards was a huge part of the game."
Jackson will lose four seniors to graduation who have been a key to the Indians' success over the past few years.
"Terry [Venable], Braden [Wendel], Blake and Connor have given the program a ton," Scott said. "We'll miss them. It was just kind of a testament to their character to be able to come back in the game and give themselves a chance. We're going to miss them and they're going to be great productive members of society some day."
Reynolds, who has signed to play at Yale next season, ended his three-year Jackson career with a game-high 19 points and 14 rebounds and said he will miss his teammates.
"We've spent what seems like every second together for the past four years," Reynolds said. "I'm going to miss it. Honestly, I can't believe it's over. We didn't want to end it like this and it hurts."
SLUH 16 12 14 16 -- 58
Jackson 9 8 15 18 -- 50
SLUH (58) -- Brandon Mckissic 11, Matthew Nestor 12, Daniel Jackson 2, Hunter Schmidt 15, Brent Smith 9, Davion Nash 9. FG 23, FT 10-15, F 22. (3-pointers: Mckissic 1, Nash 1. Fouled out: Alan Wilson.)
JACKSON (50) -- Garrett Walker 5, Braden Wendel 15, Jacob Smith 4, Blake Reynolds 19, Connor Shepard 5, Terry Venable 2. FG 14, FT 19-27, F 16. (3-pointers: Walker 1, Wendel 1, Reynolds 1. Fouled out: none.)
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