Graford moves into regional semis with 54-38 win over Saint Jo

CHICO – Whatever happened to Saint Jo’s boys basketball team between early December and Saturday night should be bottled and have folks looking for a distributor.

In initial meetings with Bryson this year, the Panthers struggled with the Cowboys before pulling out a 10-point win. In a recent bi-district matchup, Saint Jo never looked out of shorts and won by 32.

In the first meeting with Graford, the Jackrabbits pulled out a 55-point win.

Saturday night here, the Panthers (literally) fought, kicked, and scratched their way through a battle with No-2 Graford. The Rabbits had enough gas in the tank late, getting some offense from some unexpected sources to pull out a 54-38 win before a large crowd at Dragon Gym.

Saint Jo ends its year at 19-8 while the Rabbits go to 26-3. Graford Mentor Jeff Bell said his squad was its own worst enemy at times.

“We fouled too much, that’s for sure,” Bell offered. “We played good enough defense to win and that’s important.”

Saint Jo had its best shooting quarter at the end but still shot 13-37 from the floor. Graford also had five buckets in the final stanza, four of them coming from senior Cody Lemley, who hadn’t scored until late in the third quarter.

“Lemley was a good push we needed to get through the fourth quarter,” Bell said.

Lemley was a physical change from Marc Matthews who sliced and diced his way through the Panthers all night. Bell said the Rabbits needed every bit from both of them to pull the game out.

That was mainly because of some horrendous free throw shooting in the fourth by Graford, who went 5-13 from the stripe.

Graford looked to take control early, jumping out to a 10-3 lead as Matthews had eight of the tallies. Saint Jo would use Cade Stevens buckets and a three-pointer to bring the Panthers within 12-10 after one.

Pairs of buckets from Teagen Ford and Levi Butler would give the Rabbits their first double digit lead at 22-12. Graford maintained a double digit lead into the fourth quarter but was able to extend their lead with Lemley’s help and the Rabbits led by as many as 23.

Matthews had 23 points and Lemley 10 to pace Graford. Stevens had 19 to lead Saint Jo.