Coming off a loss in the Finals of the SE Missourian Christmas Tournament, the Jackson Indians felt they could be looking at a trap game as they had to head to Kennett to take on an underachieving Indians squad in their only game of the week. Head Coach Kory Thoma had his team prepared though.
“I’ve been around basketball a long time, and this game could have been an major let down game. A week off of play after a grueling, emotional, but successful Christmas tournament, playing an improving sub .500 Kennet team on their home court. My staff watched more Kennett film than any other team we have played this year because we knew this could be a possibility. We continued to relay that message this week leading up to the game,” Thoma stated.
Jackson was well prepared indeed, and came through in a big way with a dominant 79-53 victory. They got the monkey off their collective back and had a statement win to move to 9-3 on the season.
Jackson’s dominance was evident right away, as they came out gunning in the first quarter, going up 26-5.
Coach Thoma spoke to the impressive effort in the first eight minutes with, “To come out in the first quarter tonight and dominate the way we did was very impressive, and has shown the maturity of this team. Our defensive effort and connectivity on that end of the court just overwhelmed a really young but good and improving Kennett team. Coach Billings is a tremendous Coach and he has the Kennett team buying into his philosophy. They will be a handful by the end of the season.”
The offensive onslaught would continue in the second quarter, as Jackson poured in another 20 points. The defense bent a little but didn’t break, holding Kennett to 15. That made it 46-20 in favor of the away Indians as the halftime buzzer sounded.
After the break, Kennett showed why they are an improving program. They outscored Jackson in the third quarter 16-14 and made notable adjustments on the court. However, Jackson’s lead was so big though that Kennett’s improved play would not be nearly enough. The Tribe won the fourth quarter battle 19-17 and slammed the door on the 79-53 victory.
Clayton Ernst had his typical big game with a team-high 20 points and eight rebounds, but Judd Thoma was a big story as well, coming up one assist shy of a triple-double. He had 18 points and led the team with 11 boards, nine assists and a pair of steals. That’s how you fill up a box score.
Blayne Harris was big as usual once again with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Kaedmon Winborne had 15 of his own with five assists and two deflections.
It was a great all-around effort, and Coach Thoma spoke to the result with, “I’m very impressed with our team’s maturity tonight. Ernst and Harris have been our most consistent offensive leaders this year, so it was nice to see Winborne and J. Thoma have really nice games for us tonight as well. Our transition offense really got going tonight and it showed how unselfish my team really is by combining for 26 assists.”
There is a new challenge on deck next week, and it’s a big one.
“Next week we’ll be up at the Lindbergh tournament with some really talented teams from St Louis. It will be our 3rd tournament rehearsal of the season. We have not met our expectations up to this point but we are improving and tonight was one more building block leading to our ultimate goal,” stated Coach Thoma.
Good luck Indians!
