Jackson gets by Charleston to win consolation championship

SIKESTON - The Jackson Indians played a complete team game on the way to a 58-48 win over the Charleston Blue Jays to win the consolation championship in the SEMO Conference Tournament on Friday night.

“That’s what we preached yesterday in practice,” Jackson coach Kory Thoma said of the way his team played together.

Kole Deck paced the offense with a 9 point beginning to help the Indians jump out to a 13-10 lead after the first quarter of play.

“Kole is a natural scorer,” Thoma said. “He’s learning the game still and he’s getting better.”

Although Deck gave Jackson the early advantage, the Blue Jays rallied back in the second quarter behind 8 points from Ko’Terrion Owens.

The turnaround sent the Blue Jays into the locker room at halftime with a 29-27 lead.

“I just wanted us to wall up a bit better,” Thoma said. “We got a little stagnant against their zone which we made an adjustment on and we figured that out.”

Out of the halftime locker room, the Indians responded to the second quarter surge from Charleston with a surge of their own, capped off by a dunk from Gavin Holdman to make it 38-32 Indians.

“His motor has to be at a high level at all times,” Thoma said. “I ran that set out of halftime to get him that big dunk and I think that was a huge momentum swing for us.”

The usual suspects in Deck and Judd Thoma provided their usual production but the Indians also got a nice spark from their bench in the win over the Blue Jays.

“(Braden) Thompson had some good minutes for me,” Thoma said. “He does the dirty work and I really like what he does. (Jackson) Shock obviously gave me a lot of good minutes.”

After a mini Charleston run to cut the Indians lead to 40-37, Jackson closed the quarter with a pass inside to Holdman, who cashed in the bucket and drew the foul to give the Indians a 43-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Blue Jays weren’t finished however, as they went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 45.

Jackson put an end to the 8-0 run with a corner three from sophomore guard Jackson Shock that gave the Indians a 48-45 lead.

Shock followed up his three with a steal on the defensive end, a layup on the other end and then another corner three for a personal 8-0 run to make it 53-45 Indians.

“That’s why he’s on my bench,” Thoma said. “He’s not shy of the spotlight, the kid has played a lot and he has ice in his veins.”

Jackson was led by Deck who had 16 points in the win. Following that up was Shock with 15 points, Thoma with 13 points and Holdman with 10 points.

On the opposing side it was Owens leading the Blue Jays with 19 points in the loss.

Charleston (5-2) has a week off before hitting the road at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, to battle the Kennett Indians at Kennett High School.

Jackson (3-3) is back in action for its home opener at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, when the Indians host the Dexter Bearcats at Jackson High School.