The victory wasn’t pretty, but Jackson County’s record still is.
The Panthers gutted out a 52-51 victory over Oglethorpe County on the road Tuesday thanks to a free throw from Logan Smith with two seconds left as Jackson County moved to 9-5 and 3-1 in subregion play.
“My assistant coach made a good point: you’re a good team if you can somehow pull out a win when you don’t play good,” coach Britt Beaver said.
Kolin Zimmer led Jackson County with 15 points and Jared Scott added 10.
With the contest tied at 51 in the waning moments, Jackson County ran 30 seconds off the clock and got the ball to Kolin Zimmer for an open three-pointer. He missed, but Smith grabbed the offensive board and was hacked on the put-back attempt. Smith converted his first free throw attempt to break the tie.
“I’m proud of Logan for knocking that one down,” Beaver said. “A lot of kids would have choked.”
While the ending was nice, this wasn’t one of Jackson County’s better nights, the coach noted.
“We didn’t play well,” Beaver said. “We kind of got sloppy and turned the ball over and got out of our game a little bit.”
Still, Jackson County’s turnaround season continues with nine victories in its last 10 games. The Panthers face Elbert County Friday and East Jackson Tuesday.
Jackson County faces a very quick, athletic Elbert County team at home Friday.
The Blue Devils’ record isn’t stellar, but that’s because they’ve lost to a lot of Class AAAA and Class AAAAA schools.
“They’re going to be ready in the region,” Beaver said.
The Panthers then make the short trip to East Jackson for an in-country rivalry contest against the Eagles.
Beaver said East Jackson is playing some good basketball, pointing out that the Eagles lost by just three – 75-72 – to the subregion’s best team, Hart County.
“They’re playing well,” Beaver said. “If we don’t show up they’ll take that.”
Jackson County looks to continue its recent run of success. Prior to the victory over Oglethorpe County, the Panthers beat Stephens County 46-31 Dec. 30.
Three Jackson County players accounted for 43 of the Panthers’ 46 points in their 15-point win over the Indians.
Zimmer hit four three-pointers and scored 22 points in the victory. Shaw added 11 and Crawford threw in 10 as Jackson County won after a 12-day layoff.
Coach Britt Beaver said his team ran its half court offense effectively and forced an athletic Stephens County team to play at a slower tempo.
“We didn’t want to get into a running match with that team,” Beaver said. “If we did, they would have beat us by 10.”
Leading 22-17 at the break, Jackson County got 12 consecutive points from Zimmer to start the third quarter to build a 34-17 lead. Zimmer scored 12 of his team’s 15 points in that period.
Jackson County enjoyed its biggest lead of the day — 39-21 — after a bucket from Zimmer early in the fourth quarter.
