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Jackson boys basketball shakes slow start, routs Seckman 69-39 in district semifinals
For a quarter, Seckman had Jackson on upset alert. That feeling quickly vanished in the second, though.
The second-seeded Indians got hot after a sluggish first quarter, coming out on top in a 69-39 rout to reach the Class 5 District 1 championship, where they'll face No. 1 Poplar Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
As has been the case at times this season, Jackson (17-10) took a few minutes to get going. There were some turnovers in the first quarter that were problematic for the Indians, and they weren't getting the ball into the post like they'd planned. Jackson coach Darrin Scott, however, said he noticed his team never showed poor effort.
"It was the first district game; our minds were not quite right," Scott said. "Couldn't see anything, turned it over a few times, couldn't grab the ball, couldn't throw it inside, missed post guys. ... We've not played well in the first quarter yet, or in a while, which is going to be important on Thursday. ... If we weren't playing hard, we could've given up 18 points in that first quarter."
Trailing 10-8 after eight minutes, Jackson recovered with an 8-0 run to start the second quarter. The Indians never trailed again.
"In the second quarter, once we slowed down mentally and let the game come to us, we threw the ball inside and let the game come to us," Scott said.
Throughout the rest of the night, the Indians were playing through the post, working the ball inside and scoring or kicking the ball outside for perimeter looks. And it worked to perfection, as they kept steadily building their cushion.
Jackson's Payton Salyer led all scorers with 20 points, including five 3-pointers. He caught fire for 14 of his points in the second half. Colten Seyer added 12, and Dalton Tollison scored 13, primarily in the post.
"Coach told us just to kind of play within ourselves. That was about as bad as we could play (in the first quarter)," Seyer said. "We've got to play through the post more. First quarter, we were jacking too many outside shots."
The defense did its job, too, not allowing any easy looks after the first quarter. Jackson limited Seckman (6-18) to four points in the second quarter, outscoring the third-seeded Jaguars 20-4 in the second. Jackson's defense held the Jaguars scoreless for the final 5:14 of the half to take a 28-14 lead into the break.
"They settled down," Scott said. "Nothing that we haven't been preaching. The third quarter was really our best at doing that. We really got the ball inside, did some things and defensively, guarded well."
In the third quarter, the Indians kept piling on the defensive pressure, building their lead to more than 30 points. Jackson forced five turnovers in the third quarter alone, which resulted in another big scoring drought for the Jaguars. This time, the cold spell lasted 4:27.
"Get up full-court, pressure them, make them use their weak hand and just make them turn it over," Seyer said.
Meanwhile, the offense kept executing.
After taking care of Seckman, Jackson will face top-seeded Poplar Bluff at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the district championship.
| Seckman | 10 | 4 | 6 | 19 | -- | 39 |
| Jackson | 8 | 20 | 25 | 16 | -- | 69 |
SECKMAN -- Fulliam 2, Demster 5, Miller 3, Herget 9, Mason 7, McPheeters 12. 1. FG 17, FT 1-4. (3-pointers: Demster, Miller, Gerget, Mason)
JACKSON -- Gilliland 9. Salyer 20. Seyer 12. Tollison 13. Reynolds 4. Robinson 1. Totals: FG 24, FT 10-18. (3-pointers: Gilliland 3, Salyer 5, Seyer)