Second half lifts Jacksboro boys past Alvord

ALVORD – In the early stages of any season, it takes time for things to gel.

Such was the case with Alvord’s zone offense which was giving the Jacksboro boys fits in the Nov. 24 matchup. A halftime discussion got everyone back on the same page and the Tigers cruised in the second half to a 48-32 win.

Jacksboro is now 2-0 on the season having beaten Bellevue 83- 37 the night before. Coach Aaron Bass said it was simply not having worked on it.

“We hadn’t seen the 1-3-1 or the 2-3 zone yet and hadn’t worked on it in practice,” Bass said. “Our demeanor to be aggressive on their zone defense really paid off in the second half.”

The visitors were down 19-10 at the half but senior Rylan Chalmers had a pair of buckets and a three in the opening moments of the third to get within five. A bucket and free throw brought Jacksboro within one.

Sophomore Paul Shackelford and Jordan Yount’s nifty drive to the bucket gave the Purple their first lead at 28-27.A left-handed bucket from Daylan Valles and a Yount bucket enabled the Tigers, who shot 9-20 in the third quarter, to take a 33-27 lead into the final eight minutes.

Alvord appeared frustrated with the adjustments of the Tigers but still manage to kept things close . Buckets by Valles, Chalmers, and Shackelford helped the Tigers push the lead to nine with 5:14 left. The trio added free throws to help move the lead into double figures midway through the fourth. Senior Landon Davenport closed the game the way he opened it with a bucket.

To show what kind of effect making the adjustments had, Jacksboro converted just 21 percent of its first half shots (5-24). In the final two quarters, the visitors were 14-30, or 47 percent.

Chalmers led all scorers with 15 points with Yount adding 11 and Valles, who also had a solid game defensively with six steals, with nine points.