Jackson boys basketball team overcomes slow start to beat Farmington

~ The Indians pulled away in the second half for a 57-45 victory

When Jackson's game plan against Farmington got fouled up early, it played into the hands of senior guard Josh Daume to perfection.

"I like shooting 3s," Daume said with a smile after Jackson's 57-45 victory over visiting Farmington on Friday. "It's nice, but coach reminds me to get to the basket sometimes, too."

Daume hit three 3-pointers, accounting for nine of his 11 points in the game, in a pivotal second quarter that restored order for Jackson, which appeared in need of time to thaw after an icy week that canceled four days of classes and the Indians' only other scheduled game.

"You never know when he's going to heat up," Jackson junior forward Blake Reynolds said. "He can hit it from anywhere."

The Indians (17-3) entered the contest with a distinct height advantage over Farmington (12-5).

The Knights were going to have matchup problems on the inside with the Indians' 6-foot-8 senior center Brandon Leuders, the 6-7 Reynolds and 6-6 senior forward Karson King, the team's leading scorer. Farmington countered with 6-4 junior Jordan Ankrom and 6-3 senior Eli Pratte -- its only notable size in the starting five.

It took less than five minutes to foul up the Indians' advantage and plan.

With a minute left in the opening quarter Farmington held a five-point lead, Leuders and Reynolds were both on the bench saddled with two fouls and King had moved into the center spot.

It wasn't exactly the look Jackson coach Darrin Scott had planned for.

"That changes a lot of what we're trying to get done," Scott said. "I was really happy with our second quarter though. We were able to go with our smaller lineup that we don't play a whole lot of and we were able to get some defensive intensity and some turnovers, and then we got into transition and some penetrate-and-kick and knocked down some shots."

Farmington scored the first five points of the game and protected that advantage into the second quarter.

In addition to the fouls, Jackson made just three of its first nine shots and committed four turnovers.

"When the big guys get out, it takes you out of your whole offense," Daume said. "When you take two guys that are normally in your lineup out of your lineup, it makes it a lot harder to function."

King closed an otherwise awkward quarter for the Indians with a 3-point basket from the top of the key with 1 second left to cut the deficit to 12-10.

"I had to play the big-man position, and I don't do that too often, and that messed our flow up even more," King said. "It ended up working well."

Farmington's DJ Hardy answered King's 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second quarter to restore the five-point margin at 15-10.

Daume then connected on a 3-pointer from the left corner and junior guard Braden Wendel added a fastbreak layin after a missed Farmington shot to tie the score at 15-15 with 5:47 left in the quarter.

Ankrom capitalized on the absence of Lueders and Reynolds when he deposited his own missed shot to put Farmington back ahead, prompting a Jackson timeout.

When the Indians returned to the floor they needed only 11 seconds to take the lead for good. Senior Calvin Lysell hit King with a pass as he cut into the lane, and King made the layin while being fouled. He converted the free throw for an 18-17 Jackson lead.

Wendel and Daume later hit 3-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor to complete a 9-0 run that had Jackson ahead 24-17 with 2:32 left in the half.

The Indians saw their lead grow to eight points, 27-19, after Daume hit another 3-pointer before settling for a 27-21 advantage at halftime.

Six-foot-five junior Connor Shepard was among the players that helped fill the void inside and elevate the Indians' energy level.

"Connor came off the bench and gave us a huge lift off the bench, and our guards hit some shots," King said. "We ran good offense and played good defense and pressured them a little bit. That was huge. We very easily could have coasted in the second quarter and been down 10 points."

Leuders and Reynolds returned at the start of the third quarter, and the overall look was much different from the opening period.

"[Coach] was a little upset [at halftime], but he knew that we hadn't played in a while, so he said 'Just get in the swing of things and go at them. Attack them; they can't stop us.' So we did," said King, who finished with a team-high 14 points.

Reynolds scored all seven of his points for the game during the quarter -- one in which the Indians made 8 of 11 shots from the field and did not commit a turnover.

Leuders scored Jackson's first points of the period, and Wendel, who finished with 13 points, followed with a fastbreak slam dunk.

Jackson's lead hit double-figures at the 2:58 mark of the quarter when Reynolds scored on a nifty inside spin move for a 37-27 advantage.

"We came out with a lot more energy than we did in the first quarter, and that really helped," Reynolds said.

By the close of the third quarter the Indians had doubled their halftime lead, taking a healthy 47-25 advantage into the final period.

Daume and King scored in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to widen the margin to 16 points, and Farmington never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Ankrom led Farmington with 15 points, but he was the only Knight to finish in double figures.

Scott realized his team faced odd circumstances with the weather heading into the game.

"Hopefully we can get on a routine now," Scott said. "We've got three games next week."

All three contests are conference games for the Indians, who are 4-0 in the SEMO Conference.

The Indians will visit rival Central on Tuesday, host New Madrid County Central on Friday and visit Charleston in a rescheduled game Saturday.

Jackson 57, Farmington 45

Farmington 12 9 14 10 -- 45

Jackson 10 17 20 10 -- 57

FARMINGTON (45) -- Eli Pratte 7, Brett Mann 6, Garrett Callahan 9, Jordan Ankrom 15, D.J. Hardy 8. FG 18, FT 4-9, F 14. (3-pointers: Mann, Callahan, Ankrom, Hardy 2. Fouled out: none)

JACKSON (57) -- Josh Daume 11, Braden Wendel 13, Calvin Lysell 2, Karson King 14, Connor Shepard 4, Blake Reynolds 7, Brandon Lueders 6. FG 19, FT 7-9, F 11. (3-pointers: Daume 3, Wendel 3, King, Reynolds. Fouled out: none)