The Jefferson Dragons enter the Christmas break off a strong run that saw them notch three region victories in a row last week.
After the break, the Dragons will return to action on Dec. 28, as they will face the Kell Longhorns from Marietta in the Pickens County Christmas Tournament, which runs through Dec. 30.
Fannin County
The Dragons started out their week last Tuesday with a long road trip to Blue Ridge to face the Rebels.
Things started off sluggishly for Jefferson, as they found themselves trailing 15-7 at the end of the first quarter. Things didn’t appear at first to be getting much better in the first half of the second quarter, as Jefferson was down 26-14.
But then the Dragons seemed to come to life, and by the half, they had tied the score 28-28.
Things continued to improve for Jefferson in the second half, as they took the lead in the third quarter, and entered the fourth quarter with a slim 42-41 advantage.
The Dragons pulled that lead out to six points with about three minutes left, but the Rebels closed the gap to one with just minutes left on the clock. The Dragons got off a couple of big shots with two minutes left, and a few successful free throws gave Jefferson the 63-54 victory.
J.J. Damons led Jefferson in scoring with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Darius Minor scored 14 points. David Watson scored 12.
“I did think we played better in the second half,” said coach Bolling DuBose. “We had a little more energy, a little more quickness about us, but overall, I thought it was the most lethargic game we played this season. We just never played the way we’re capable of winning.”
Dawson County
On Friday, the Dragons traveled to Dawson County to face the number 10 ranked Tigers.
Jefferson took control early, taking a 17-12 at the end of the first quarter. The Tigers looked to make a stand, but the Dragons held a 21-18 lead at the half.
“The only part of the game that I didn’t think we played well was, offensively we didn’t do well in the second quarter,” DuBose said. “But we did such a good job defensively they couldn’t come back and take the lead on us.”
The Dragons would pull the lead out to nine, 39-30 in the third quarter. For most of the fourth quarter, Jefferson would hold a lead in double digits. At the end, they came away with a 65-54 win.
“I was just really pleased with the effort we gave all night,” DuBose said.
J.J. Damons led in scoring with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Darius Minor scored 21 points on the night.
“I was just really pleased,” DuBose said. “I thought we did a great job on the boards. We ran our break well, we did a good job defensively shutting down their shooters, so
we did pretty much everything we wanted to do that night.”
Rabun County
Next up was the Dragons’ home opener on Saturday, as they played host to the Wildcats of Rabun County.
Rabun had been averaging a lot of points, and entered the game with a 7-1 record.
Jefferson again took control early, moving out to a 28-14 advantage by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, they lengthened that lead while holding the Wildcats to 18 points to carry a 52-32 advantage into the half.
In the third quarter, the Dragons moved out to a 24-point advantage, 72-48 by the start of the fourth quarter. In the fourth, Jefferson held a 25-30 point advantage for most of the time, and came away with a 90-60 win.
“Saturday night was probably the best game we’ve had all year,” DuBose said. “The first half, I don’t know that we could have played much better on either end of the floor, offensively or defensively. Right off the bat, we ran with the ball extremely well. We got the ball to the right people. We took great shots. We didn’t force any shots. We just had one of those nights where we had a lot of different guys shooting the ball well.”
Darius Minor led in scoring with 27 points. J.J. Damons scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds, despite not playing in the fourth quarter. Andrew Bartek scored 12 points and had eight rebounds on the night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
