Jackson’s hot hand, quickness put away Marquette in second-half surge

On the heels of a pair of tough losses, Jackson took advantage of its final opportunity to go into the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament on a high note with a hot-shooting 67-52 win at home against Marquette on Thursday afternoon.

Dropping into a couple of early deficits, Jackson’s 3-point barrage got it going back in the right direction. Rattling off nine triples in the win, the hot hand ensured Jackson took care of business against a scrappy Marquette offense.

“It was a really, really good effort,” Indians coach Kory Thoma said. “We had a quick turnaround against a really good team up in St. Louis, very similar to the Farmington team that we played Tuesday night.

“We got out a little better in transition tonight and finished at the rim. We put a lot of pressure on in transition, you know, it breaks him down.”

Jackson's Braedon Thoma drives up the floor during a December 21, 2023 game between the Jackson Indians and the Marquette Mustangs at Jackson High School in Jackson, Mo. Jackson defeated Marquette, 67-52.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

A game of runs decided the first quarter as after falling in a 5-0 hole early, Jackson rattled off 12 consecutive points including 3-pointers from Keegan Stutzman, Kole Deck and Braedon Thoma.

But rallying back to make it a one-point game, Marquette’s Brody Owen drilled a 23-foot shot to give the Mustangs that lead back at 14-12, where the first quarter ended with the Mustangs back on top.

Trailing as far as 20-12, Jackson rallied again in the second quarter to eventually take the lead back at 26-24.

With a pair of triples from Deck and another two from Jackson Shock plus three makes from the free-throw line, the Indians ended the half with a 34-32 lead over the Mustangs.

While it might not be most efficient to rely on perimeter shooting to get you to the summit, junior wing Deck knows that the team’s shooters are essential to the ins and outs of Jackson’s offense.

“We move the ball really well,” Deck said. “The more we move the ball, the more people are open. The more people there are, the more shots are going.”

Jackson's Jackson Shock (left-center) fires a 3-pointer during a December 21, 2023 game between the Jackson Indians and the Marquette Mustangs at Jackson High School in Jackson, Mo. Jackson defeated Marquette, 67-52.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

The lead stretched as far as 10 points early in the third quarter as Judd Thoma’s six early points extended Jackson’s edge heavily, forcing a Marquette timeout.

Jackson managed to consistently get to the cup and finished on most of its opportunities, with Deck and Thoma both creating havoc inside to push Jackson to a 55-41 lead after three.

Despite an angsty fourth quarter with some rough plays going both ways, the Indians muscled out a 67-52 win to get back to .500 on the year.

Out-shooting the visitors handily, Jackson’s fiery third quarter got it from dead even with Marquette to a huge lead, cruising to a big win and leaving little doubt five days removed from its annual appearance at the Show Me Center.

Jackson's Judd Thoma stares back to the sideline during a December 21, 2023 game between the Jackson Indians and the Marquette Mustangs at Jackson High School in Jackson, Mo. Jackson defeated Marquette, 67-52.Cole Lee ~ clee@semoball.com

Kole Deck led the Indians individually once more, dropping 21 points in the win to continue his hot streak. Judd Thoma’s 15 finished close behind, while Gavin Holdman put in 12 including a house-rattling jam in the fourth quarter to throw down the exclamation mark.

Brody Owen’s game-high 26 points gave the Mustangs a spark plug, with the closest teammate in scoring being Kieran Burnett with 11 points as the only other double-digit scorer.

Now back to even on the season at 5-5, Jackson got a bit of pep back in its step after defeating Class 6 Marquette at the Event Center.

After initially struggling with identity, Jackson’s starting to finally find who it is even before the long-awaited return of Blayne Harris sometime in the near future.

But with a loaded Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament slate looming, there’s a lot of tuning still yet to be done.

“We're nowhere close to being peaking, but we're playing some of our best basketball that we played all season right now,” Kory Thoma said. “There are some really good teams. Any given night anything can happen over there, so I'm looking forward to the competition.”