Lions come through in the clutch for semifinal win
PERRYVILLE — With two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Jessieville’s senior boys finally looked the part of a Class 3A contender Thursday night.
Facing Paris in 3A-4 district tournament semifinal, the Lions found themselves tied 46-46 with 2:37 remaining after suffering through one of their worst shooting performances of the season.
The Lions saved their best for last, holding Paris without a point the rest of the way, while knocking down 9 of their last 10 attempts from the free throw line to seal a 55-46 win at Perryville High School.
Ranked No. 1 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Class 3A super six, Jessieville (22-4) will face Perryville or Two Rivers in the district championship at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
“There is some toughness to them, and that’s kind of what I challenged them at halftime,” Jessieville coach Jared White said. “Early on, they didn’t look like the tough team that we’ve gotten our identity from. That’s who we are and that’s who we want to be. I felt like for the first half, we weren’t the tougher team. In the second half, I thought we were much tougher.”
Paris senior Jordan Moore
scored seven points in the first quarter as the Eagles set the tone early. Withstanding six points from Jessieville’s Alex Burleson, Paris closed the frame on an
8-0 run for a 19-11 advantage.
“I think the biggest thing is we turned it over a couple times for layups and we also gave up some offensive rebounds,” said White. “They also got to the free throw line, so a lot went into that first quarter.”
Moore and senior guard Kris Graham opened the second period with consecutive baskets and Eagles stretched their lead to 24-18 before the Lions woke up. Burleson and senior Chase Pedersen each scored two points as Jessieville pulled within 26-23 at the half.
“When we decided to be the tougher team, you saw the difference in the defensive stops and things like that,” White said. “That was important to see.”
Held without a 3-pointer in the first half, the Lions found their rhythm from behind the arc in the third quarter. Dalton McClard and Braxton Shifflett buried consecutive treys to give Jessieville its first lead since the opening quarter at 35-33 with 2:12 remaining.
Paris fought back as Moore got loose for a layup and Graham followed with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer off the glass. The Eagles took a 38-37 lead into the final frame.
With the game on the line, the Lions turned to their senior leader to regain momentum. Despite failing to connect on a single shot from behind the arc, Burleson opened the fourth quarter with nine straight points and Jessieville took a lead it would not surrender at 46-44 with 3:33 remaining.
The senior guard finished with a game-high 24 points, including 10 in the final period.
“Credit Paris and their defensive effort, tonight was the first time in a while where he looked up and it wasn’t easy on him,” said White. “He had to earn everything he got. I thought Paris did a good job on him, but he’s still taking great shots and making passes in the right situations. Nine times out of ten, he’s going to make the right decision to get one of our offensive players involved.”
Moore converted on two shots from the charity stripe to tie the score at 46-46 with 2:37 remaining, but the Eagles were held without a point the rest of the way as Jessieville closed the game on a 9-0 run to set the final margin.
Moore paced the Eagles with 15 points and Graham finished with 12 points. Shifflett had 12 points for the Lions.
Jessieville will take a seven-game winning streak into tonight’s championship game.
“We’re pretty familiar with both teams, but we’ll need to have a good game plan,” White said. “This time of year, you’re playing opponents back-to-back nights and you don’t have time to practice things. It’s about what kind of adjustments can you make and then go out there and execute.”