THE EAST Jackson boys’ basketball team (0-3) fell to Hebron Christian Academy 64-56 Tuesday on the road as the Eagles remained winless on the year.
Casey Reed scored 20 points in the losing effort while Nathan Crumley added 13.
“It was a very tight game throughout,” East Jackson coach Brian Turner said, “and we had our chances. We just could not make the shots down the stretch.”
This was the Eagles’ third road game so far this season. The girls’ teams did not play Tuesday.
This game marked the fourth time the East Jackson and Hebron boys’ teams have played in the past two seasons.
The squads played three times last year with East Jackson winning twice in close fashion.
In this loss, Turner found positives.
“I’m very proud of our effort and I feel we took steps to improve areas of weakness from the first two games.”
The teams meet again Dec. 22.
East Jackson finally gets a home game as it will play rival Banks County Friday night. Girls action starts at 7 p.m., and the boys will take the floor at 8:30 p.m.
Eagles drop game after cold shooting night
EAST JACKSON’S boys shot just 30 percent from the floor in a 67-45 loss to West Hall last Tuesday in the second game of a season-opening tournament.
“The difference in the game was our continued bad shooting and putting the other team on the free throw line way too much,” Eagle coach Brian Turner said. “We shot 30 percent on the night and this should be our biggest strength, but it is just not there right now.”
West Hall attempted 36 free throws.
Jarron Davis led East Jackson with 11 points, and James Schimmel and Sidney Henderson both had eight.
While the Eagles need to make offensive improvements, the team must step up defensively, too, Turner said.
“We stress that we must win games with our defense and the tournament showed that we need to make great strides in this area and our focus has been on the defensive side of the ball and trying to get all of our kids plenty of shots to try to find our rhythm,” Turner said.
