Jacksonville pulls away, beats Catholic
The Jacksonville Titans did what they needed to do in their 5A-Central Conference victory over the Little Rock Catholic Rockets on Tuesday night But it wasn’t easy.
The Titans (16-11, 7-5) kept the Rockets off the offensive glass and used a balanced offense in taking a 49-41 victory on Catholic’s home floor.
“A win is a win,’’ Jacksonville associate head coach Brandon Brockman said. “I can pick apart any win and see some things I am not quite happy with. But at the end of the day, a conference win is a conference win.”
The victory solidified the Titans’ fourth-place spot in the 5A-Central standings and completed a sweep of the Rockets (12-12, 7-6) this season.
“One of the things we have tried to make an emphasis on this week was to limit their offensive rebounds and make sure we used our size and athleticism to our advantage and make sure we got some extra offensive opportunities with offensive rebounds,’’ Brockman said.
Trailing 18-7 in the second quarter, the Rockets used a 7-0 run to get within four. Jacksonville led 20-16 at halftime.
Catholic was trailing 33-23 in the third, thanks in part to the Titans collecting five offensive rebounds in the early minutes of the quarter. But the Rockets closed the period on a 7-3 run and when Wallace Landrum hit two three-pointers in the first minute of the final quarter, his third in a two-minute span, it was 36-36.
After the teams exchanged field goals, making it 38-38 with 6:05 left, the Titans turned up the defense and slowly pulled away.
Jacksonville’s Justice Moore hit a three-pointer to regain the lead and Jason Fox followed with a pair of free throws and the Titans were back up 45-38. Cliff Maddox’s three-pointer made it 45-41 with 2:03 left, but the Rockets would not score again.
Landrum led Catholic with 12 points, all on three-pointers, Maddox added 10 points and Walker Lewis 9.
The Titans were led by Jimmy Davis with 10 points. Taylor Conner added 9 points and Moore scored 8. Bryson Hammond and Jayce Tillman had 7 each.