The Jefferson Dragons continue to roll towards the post season as they picked up wins over North Oconee and Commerce last week, and continue to hold on to first place in the subregion.
Now the Dragons’ attention turns to their next challenge when they travel to Oglethorpe County to face the Patriots Friday.
In their last meeting, Jefferson took the win handily by a score of 71-44.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Then on Saturday, Jefferson will play what easily will be the most popular rematch of the season, as they play host to the number two team in the subregion, the Eagles of East Jackson.
A capacity crowd was on hand at EJCHS back on Jan. 23 for the first meeting of the two teams. With a similarly large crowd expected on hand Saturday, Jefferson coach Bolling DuBose is encouraging fans to get to the gym early to ensure admittance to the game.
Tip-off Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
North Oconee
Jefferson stared their week out by hosting North Oconee on Tuesday.
It was the first time this season that the Dragons had faced North Oconee, a team that is currently 3-6 in the subregion.
The Titans came out strong, and at the end of the first quarter, they held a two-point lead over Jefferson, 17-15.
Jefferson switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man, and alternated back into a zone. The strategy worked, as Jefferson kept pace with North Oconee, and tailed by four at the half, 30-26.
In the third quarter, Jefferson took control of the game as the Dragons went to a straight man-to-man full court defense. The pressure worked, as Jefferson outscored the Titans 13-2, and went up 39-32 at the end of the quarter.
The Dragons maintained the lead in the fourth quarter, and added to it, ending the game with a 58-47 victory.
Darius Minor led the Dragons in scoring with 19 points, while J.J. Damons scored 10.
“The last two and a half quarters I thought defensively we played real well,” DuBose said. “The first quarter and a half I didn’t think we played very good. But the last two and a half quarters, we put a lot of pressure on them to try to force them to speed the game up. We ended up shooting the ball a lot better in the second half as well.”
Commerce
On Friday, it was a renewal of the age-old cross-county rivalry between the Dragons and the Commerce Tigers.
Commerce, who has had a good year so far, was looking to break their streak of losses to Jefferson, while the Dragons wanted to keep the streak alive.
Commerce brought a lot of energy with them when they hit the court, but Jefferson was ready for it.
In many games this year, Jefferson would get off to a slow start, and build their momentum later in the game. But against the Tigers, Jefferson came out ready to go.
The Dragons were up 14-3 at the end of the first quarter, working to make Commerce shoot outside.
The Dragons’ momentum slowed a little in the second quarter, but still maintained a 22-13 lead.
Commerce mounted a charge in the third quarter, but could only close to about six or seven points at one time. Meanwhile, the Dragons couldn’t seem to pull away, as they maintained a 33-25 lead going into the fourth quarter.
That was where the Dragons turned up the heat again, and began to attack the basket. At the end, it was Jefferson coming away with the 52-39 win.
It marked the twentieth consecutive victory for the Dragons over the Tigers. The last victory for Commerce in the rivalry came in region tournament play in February of 2000.
Minor led in scoring against Commerce with 13 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. Hoytes Damons scored 10 on the night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
