Junction City tops Parkers Chapel

WOODLAWN — Getting off to fast starts is one way for top seeds to establish themselves and not give an opponent an opportunity to spring an upset.

Junction City did just that on Wednesday night, jumping out to a sizable cushion en route to topping Parkers Chapel 66-39 in the semifinals of the 8-2A District Tournament.

The top-seeded Dragons (176) advanced to take on Fordyce for the district crown on Thursday night.

The schools split their two meetings with each winning at home. The Redbugs denied the Dragons an outright regular-season title with a 77-76 win in overtime earlier this month.

Junction City also topped their Union County rival for the third time this year.

The Trojans (8-18), the No. 5 seed who upended Ouachita Tuesday to qualify for the regional tournament, head into next week as the conference’s No. 4 seed with Woodlawn serving as the

No. 3 seed.

Junction City led 23-11 at the end of the first quarter before pushing their lead to 40-23 at intermission.

The Dragons led 60-30 at the end of the third quarter before winning by the final margin.

Pechone Larry had 18 points to lead three players in double figures for the Dragons. He added 4 assists and 3 steals in the win.

Deon James had 14 points while adding 4 assists and 4 steals for Junction City. Lamontra Hankton chipped in with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Taylen Owens had 9 points along with a team-high 6 assists and 3 steals, while Demarion Henry had 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Zamundrae Gray had 4 points with Cedric Jackson, Jordan Banks and Shakenya Malone scoring 2 points apiece to round out Junction City’s scoring.

Banks and Malone each grabbed 4 rebounds for the Dragons.

Dyson Dougan had 14 points to lead the Trojans.