JACKSON BOYS HIT ROADBLOCK

JACKSON -- Adam Crader was an intimidating giant that scared Jackson down the proverbial beanstalk Saturday night.

The 6-foot-9 sophomore owned the paint and used every bit of his frame to his advantage in Doniphan's 64-49 win over Jackson Saturday night.

Crader scored a modest 15 points, which wasn't even a team high.

But it was almost absurd the way the lanky center's defensive presence beleaguered the Indians.

"I don't know how many shots he blocked, but the ones he didn't block, he changed," Jackson coach Steve Burk said. "He hurt us on both ends, but he had a bigger impact on the defensive end."

Because of Crader's existence underneath the basket, Jackson settled for perimeter shots. The Indians, without their leading scorer and accurate shooter Doug Cary due to the flu, shot just 17 percent (3-for-18) from 3-point range and 30 percent (17-for-57) from the field.

"That's the best game he's had for me," Doniphan coach Shane Benson said of Crader. "I thought he dominated on both ends, especially defensively. He changed so many shots.

"I just thought he had a really good ball game and we did a good job of getting him the ball where he could score."

Crader established himself on both ends of the floor early. He scored quickly on the Dons' first possession of the game and ended up with nine points in the first half.

The teams were tied at 11-11 at the conclusion of the first quarter, but Doniphan (14-3) opened up the second quarter with a 10-0 run and led 28-20 at halftime.

Jackson (10-5) folded in the third quarter.

The Indians didn't score a field goal until five minutes had passed in the third period. Doniphan, meanwhile, started hitting perimeter shots and created a 20-point cushion, 47-27, heading into the final quarter.

Doniphan guard Dustin Caras scored a game-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers.

Caras was getting open looks because of the attention that Jackson was giving Crader.

"You've got to honor him," Burk said. "If you front, you've got to have weak-side help, if you play behind, he's just going to shoot it over you. Then they got really hot in the second half."

Cory Daniel, Jackson's 6-foot-6 center, scored just one point less than Crader did and led the Indians with 14 points.

Still, it was a frustrating night.

"Coach talked about our lack of confidence after the game," Daniel said. "We came out at the beginning of the game and let him get into our heads. We needed to take it through him. If we would've done that the whole game it would've been a lot closer."

Jackson performed better in the fourth, scoring 22 points.

"We needed to go inside more than we did," Burk said. "When we got it inside, we needed to take it to him. You can't try to shoot over a kid like that. In the fourth quarter we did that and suddenly we were productive inside."

Jackson returns to action Monday night when Poplar Bluff visits for a 7:30 p.m. make-up game.