LODI ENDS LOSING SKID
Two and a half months ago at the Torrey Pines High School Tournament in San Diego, tourney officials gave Lodi High boys basketball coach Dave Nutting courtesy T-shirts to hand out to his Flames’ players.
But Nutting and assistant coaches John Clemons, Johnny Quintana and Ammer Johnson decided not to hand out the T-shirts with good reason. The Flames had lost all four games at the Christmas tournament. The coaches told the players they would be more than happy to give them the T-shirts under one condition only: Lodi would need to win a Tri-City Athletic League game.
Jaylin Reed made sure his teammates would get to add to their T-shirt attire on Wednesday.
Playing rival Tokay in the league and crosstown finale at The Jungle, Reed launched seven 3pointers and finished with 41 points, as the Flames ended a 21-game losing skid with an 86-70 win over the Tigers.
The win removed the monkey from the back of Lodi (1-9 in the TCAL, 5-22), which picked up its fourth win of the season on paper. The Flames lost to Elk Grove at the Cartwright Classic Tournament in early December, but the Thundering Herd forfeited the game last month because of the use of an ineligible player. Plus, the win evens the score with Tokay (2-8 in the TCAL, 918), which won the first meeting 58-54 at The Inferno last month.
Lodi led 34-26 to start the third quarter. The Flames and the Tigers exchanged scoring possessions through the first six minutes of the contest. Before Lodi built into a double-digit lead at 46-35, Tokay was within seven points at 38-31, and then 40-31.
Then just over three minutes left in the quarter, Reed caught on fire for the Flames. Within one minute, Reed canned two treys; one on each side of the arc and uncontested. Sneak in 3-pointers from teammates Nathan Foster and Chase Shafter, and the Flames led 57-42, which was capped with a 17-9 run.
“Everything I shot was going in tonight,” Reed said.
The Flames made six 3-pointers in the quarter and 13 in the game. They finished the quarter with a 62-46 advantage.
“It was nice to knock them down,” said Lodi coach Dave Nutting of the 3-pointers. “We’ve had those shots in a lot of games, but in this game we knocked them down.”
Moving to the fourth quarter, Lodi continued to hold its lead over Tokay until the Flames saw their comfortable double-digit lead back to single digits, thanks largely to Tokay forward Aidan Green, who made 14 of his team-high 31 points in the quarter that came off Flame turnovers turned into easy lay-ups and free throws.
Toss in more shooting by Tiger forward Luka Jovic, who had eight of his 18 points in the quarter, and guard Austin Dongon, who scored seven of his 16 points in the final eight minutes, the Flames’ lead was sliced to 83-77 with 20.8 seconds left in the game.
“This is a rivalry,” said Tokay coach Travis Okamoto. “The rivalry is still alive and well, and it’s a lot of fun.”
But Lodi iced the game and its first win since early December when Reed capped off his remarkable performance with making two free throws with 18 seconds left in the game. Those points gave Reed 13 points in the quarter. For good measure, Flames center John Durham sank 1-of-2 free throws that led to the final score.
“He’s a diamond in the rough,” said Nutting of Reed. “He had a really good game. He had what you would call ‘in the zone.’ If you’re a basketball player, everyone knows what that means. The basket looks like it’s 20-feet wide, and everything you shoot (goes in). He kept shooting, and then all of a sudden, bang, bang, bang.”
Lodi inbounded the ball in the last five seconds of the game, which led to passing the ball around the court to secure the win. After the game, the Flames were swarmed by Lodi student fans near the Flames’ bench in celebration of the win and the end of the losing skid.
The Tigers led 17-14 entering the second quar-
ter. But the Flames’ defense forced Tokay turnovers, which transition into points. Halfway through the quarter, Lodi established a 23-18 lead, and finished with the 34-26 advantage.
Tokay started the game with an 8-0 run before Nutting called a time out with 6:07 remaining in the first quarter. The Tigers added another basket and free throw for an 11-0 advantage before Flames responded with their own run, but Tokay still led 17-14 after the quarter.
Nutting credits how the team felt at the beginning of the game, before they started their run that was led by Reed.
“We just had nervous jitters, and it was our last game,” Nutting said. “We settled down and we just started playing basketball ... it was nice to win the last one.”
Reed added, “It feels great. Especially in a rivalry game.”
Okamomto was proud that his team kept battling until the final seconds of the game. Plus the scoring efforts of Green and Dongon, plus Jovic, who had 18 points, and Jorge Hernandez with 11 points.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Okamoto said. “Lodi played a hell of a game. When some teams are playing that well, they’re tough to beat.”
Leading scorers behind Reed for the Flames were Durham and Shafter, both of whom had 13 points each. Forward Matt Nickel had seven points, and Foster six.
Behind Green, Dongon and Jovic in scoring for the Tigers was Jorge Hernandez, who had 11 points.
Contact reporter Mike Bush at mikeb@lodinews.com. Follow on Twitter: @MBushLodiSports.