Who wins tonight? JACKETS or steers? [Archive]

Ville

02-22-2013, 12:23 AM

No. 6 Jackets cruise to first playoff win
Posted 30 minutes ago | By BRAD KEITH brad.keith@empiretribune.com Follow Brad Keith on Twiter @etsports

BROCK - Stephenville (26-7) scored the final 10 points of the first quarter and kept Graham at arm's length the rest of the way to secure the school's first boys basketball playoff win Thursday night.

Grayson Sweet led four double-digit scorers with 16 points as the No. 6 Yellow Jackets cruised, 70-53. They face Wichita Falls Hirschi or Alvarado - they play tonight - in a regional quarterfinal next week.

Just when it looked as if Graham had gained some momentum in the third quarter, Sweet poured in six straight points in a span of just 48 seconds to extend Stephenville's lead to 49-30. The Steers never got closer than 12 in the second half, and when they did, Sweet buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 58-43 with 6:10 left.

"When we started pressing and getting steals and I got those six points there, I knew we had it," said Sweet. "It's hard to keep us from running. That's just what we do."

The junior's long ball touched off a 7-0 push that sealed it for the Jackets. He also hit a 3-pointer to touch off their 10-0 first-quarter run that opened up a 21-12 lead entering the second.

The Steers came out in a 2-3 zone, which didn't surprise the Yellow Jackets. What did, however, was that Graham never tried to slow the game when it had the ball.

"We thought they would play a zone and they did," Sweet said. "But I was surprised to see them playing fast with us offensively. They definitely improved a lot, but once we get going, we're hard to slow down."

Graham turned the ball over 31 times, largely because of Stephenville's tenacious pressure. The Jackets had miscues too, giving the ball away 20 times and going just 9-20 from the free throw stripe five days after hitting 27-30 in a playoff warmup victory over 4A Fort Worth Dunbar.

Stephenville hit seven 3-pointers, two by Sweet and one each by Arbnor Kelmendi, Brandon Stevens, Jarrett Stidham, Juder Stidham and Tyler Pettit. Juder Stidham scored 13 points with a host of baskets in the paint and his lone triple, Kelmendi added 11 without scoring in the fourth and Jarrett Stidham netted 10.

Stephenville picked up four points each from Stevens and Malik Taylor, three from Pettit and two from B.J. Walker.

The Steers, which fell at Stephenville 82-47 on Dec. 11 then finished third in District 5-3A, were led by Jansen Graham with 15 points. They defeated Springtown 64-53 in the bi-district round.

Stephenville won the 7-3A championship - its second-ever district title and first since 2005 - to earn a bye through the opening round. The Yellow Jackets have won 13 straight dating back to the Whataburger Tournament before the calendar flipped to 2013.

Sweet knows the challenge to continue the run gets tougher in the regional quarterfinals. Hirschi and Alvarado both have NCAA Division I pledges.

"Both teams have a great player, so we'll have to work on stopping him, but if we can do that I think we'll be fine," Sweet said.