Junction City knocks off Bearden to reach regional

FORDYCE - Junction City will host next week’s regional basketball tournament. Thanks to a hard-fought 60-50 win over Bearden Wednesday night, the Dragons will be playing in it, too.

Junction City advanced to the semifinals of tonight’s 2A-8 District Tournament and improved to 13-7 on the season. The Bears finished their season with a 13-12 record.

“You get a chance to host regional for the first time. You sure don’t want to be sitting there hosting it and not be in it,” said Junction City coach Kendall Hutcheson. “It’s nice just to get there. Once you get there, anything can happen. I think with as strong as this conference is, I think we’ll have a good shot once we get there. Now, we’ll focus on the next thing and try to make sure we’re not satisfied.”

Jerrodney Tubbs scored nine of his 15 points in the final three minutes. The senior also grabbed 15 rebounds.

But, it was the offensive production of Cam Frazier and Zak Brown which kept the Dragons afloat in the first half. The duo combined for 28 points, 14 apiece. Brown scored eight in the second quarter. Frazier scored seven during the game-changing 14-1 run in the third.

The key to the game, however, came on the other end of the court.

“Defense,” answered Hutcheson when asked for the key to the win. “We thought turnovers were

going to be huge for us and we turned the ball over way too many times. But, when we turned it over, we went back and got a bunch of stops tonight on defense.

“We didn’t give up as many points off of turnovers tonight, which was important for us.”

The game was knotted at 24-24 until Frazier converted a three-point play to end the first half. Frazier opened the third with back-to-back buckets before Brown scored inside.

Tubbs scored on the block. Dhante Gibson hit a free throw and Tubbs put an offensive rebound back in the basket as the lead swelled to 38-25 late in the third.

The Bears kept fighting and closed the gap to 47-42 with 3:32 left to play. Tubbs answered with a three-point play. Brown hit a free throw before Tubbs scored inside again.

The fourth quarter had some baiting-and-flopping by a few players as emotions nearly got out of hand.

“That’s Bearden and Junction a little bit there,” said Hutcheson. “Bearden is a really good team. Bearden should be in the regionals, also. I mean, when your season is over with, I understand you can get a little upset. I thought our kids did a good job trying to maintain their composure and not get too wrapped up in it.”

Kendrick Juniel led Bearden (13-12) with 21 points with Lavarious Hughes chipping in with 14.

Charles Hoof grabbed seven boards for the Dragons.

“Outstanding defensive effort by the kids tonight,” added Hutcheson. “I’m very proud of them.”