New Madrid edges Jackson in clash of SEMO Conference titans

Two teams, both undefeated in the SEMO Conference met with a chance to improve their chance to win the regular-season conference championship.

The New Madrid County Central Eagles walked away happy as they defeated the Jackson Indians 64-48 on Friday at Jackson High School.

BJ Williamson and Jadis Jones led the Eagles with 22 and 18 points, respectively, while Ra’Mond Brooks added 12. The Indians were led by Kole Deck with 19 and Gavin Holdman with 13.

Both teams started well in the first quarter, knocking down shots when they were open but each team's defense kept the opportunities to a minimum. Williamson took over in the final minute and scored six straight to give the Eagles an 18-12 lead after one.

New Madrid dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Indians 21-9. The Jackson offense looked overwhelmed by the Eagles' defense, and on the other end could not slow down Williamson or Jones. New Madrid held a 39-21 halftime lead over the Indians.

New Madrid head coach Dontre Jenkins said his team’s defense was a big part of the win.

“That was our mindset coming in, to kind of set the tone on defense and try to take Jackson out of what they like to do,” Jenkins said. “They like doing a whole bunch of different sets so our gameplan was to come out and be aggressive and not let them get into their sets.”

New Madrid slowed the game down in the third which proved to be an advantage for the Indians as through the first six minutes Jackson outscored the Eagles 13-6. New Madrid used a timeout to stop the run and still held on to an 11-point lead, 47-36 after three.

The Eagles opened the fourth on a 6-0 run and forced Jackson to call a timeout. The Indians never got closer than 11 as New Madrid held on for their sixth conference win.

Jackson head coach Kory Thoma said while his team wanted to win they could use this loss to learn how to compete in tough games down the road.

“I thought we competed well in the first and third quarters, our second quarter we had kind of a rough go but that’s a good team. Jadis and BJ are two of the most challenging players to guard in the state of Missouri and we didn't execute the pressure,” Thoma said. “That's fine because we have about two or three more weeks to understand that it’s going to be this way down the stretch. Every loss this time of the season is okay because you can get back to practice and learn from it, and that's what we plan to do.”

Each team has a date with undefeated Sikeston next week, New Madrid will face the Bulldogs on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Sikeston while the Indians will host Sikeston on Friday at 7:30 p.m.