Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Jefferson started out their strong week with a trip to Rabun County to face the Wildcats.
Jefferson started out strong, going up 21-8 by the end of the first quarter.
But something happened in the second quarter, as Rabun County came alive, and outscored the Dragons 15-5, leaving Jefferson with a slim three point lead, 26-23, at the half.
The score would remain close throughout the rest of the game, with Jefferson moving out to no further than a five or six point lead though the third quarter.
Early in the fourth, Jefferson had an opportunity to blow the game wide open. With the lead moved out to ten points, the Dragons offense became inpatient, taking several quick shots despite the lead and the clock being on their side. The Wildcats answered by scoring on a couple of occasions, and tying up the game with about a minute and a half left on the clock.
Jefferson rallied, and in the end pulled off a five-point win, 66-61 at the final buzzer.
Darius Minor scored 18 points to lead the Dragons that night, while Tab Martin scored 13 and Chris Beck scored 11.
“It was great getting the win, but really and truly, after the first quarter, I didn’t think we played particularly well,” said coach Bolling DuBose. “Late in the game, we didn’t handle that situation of having the lead and having the ball and having a chance to run some time off the clock well. We’ve got to learn from that.”
Next up for the Dragons was a home stand against Oglethorpe County in Jefferson’s first sub-region pairing of the year.
The Dragons took control early, using their press to force several turnovers, and converting those turnovers into points. After building an early lead in the second quarter, Jefferson continued to build on that lead for the rest of the game. The Dragons would go on to win 71-44.
Minor led in scoring against the Patriots with 24 points, while Jamie Sexton scored nine.
“I thought on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively, we did a good job all night,” DuBose said. “We rebounded the ball well all night. They were a team that was certainly athletic enough to get some rebounds if we didn’t do a good job blocking out but we did.”
DuBose said he thought forcing them into the turnovers and getting some easy points off of that was the key to building an early lead.
“Once we got the big lead early in the second half, I think it took the wind out of their sails, and they didn’t play particularly hard the rest of the game.
“That was a good win for us, making us 1-0 in the sub-region.”
Jefferson next played host to Oconee County on Saturday, a team that they’ve faced three times this season, despite being scheduled to face them only once. Jefferson won both meetings.
“As we talked about with our kids, it’s really hard to beat a good team three times in a season,” DuBose said. “Oconee is a pretty good basketball team. They actually started off their region schedule in 8-AAA winning their first three games. They are certainly very competitive in their region.”
With that in mind, DuBose said the plan going into Saturday’s game was to change the way they played them.
“The first two games we played them man to man. The other night, we felt like we needed to do something different, so we went to a zone press and a zone defense.”
The plan seemed to work early, as Jefferson had one of their best defensive games of the year and kept Oconee from getting good looks at the basket. Jefferson held the Warriors to only 11 points in the first half, and led 14-11 at halftime.
For more of this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
