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Kasey Ray Swan (11) heads to the basket with a Lindsay defender on his heels. Swan led the team in scoring as Jacksboro beat the Knights Friday night at home. Photo/Brian Smith
After a tough road loss to Windthorst three nights earlier, Jacksboro’s boys basketball team was looking to redeem itself against a good Lindsay squad.
After missing 20 free throws vs. the Trojans and losing an early lead, the Tigers showed they had their lesson in leading from wire to wire vs. the Knights and taking a 49-26 win Friday night at Jacksboro Middle School Gym.
Jacksboro evens its ledger at 2-2 while the visitors drop to 1-3. Tiger Coach Steve Stegall said coming back from Tuesday night’s loss and making a statement was important.
“We had to redeem ourselves from missing 20 free throws and giving up a 25-point quarter to let them in the game,” Stegall noted. “This had to be taken care of early and it was. Now we just need to stack some wins together.”
Kasey Ray Swan and Cannon Valenzuela got the Purple out to a 5-0 lead in the game’s first 1:35. The Knights stayed close early but missed their last six shots of a 2-12 shooting frame. Swan closed a six-point quarter with a three-point play as the hosts, who shot just 3-13 in the opening eight minutes, led 10-5 after one.
Lindsay sophomore Winston Fleitman’s pair of buckets cut the lead to two but a Valenzuela bucket and a Ryder Jackson three pointer put the lead at eight. The Tigers showed more patience with the ball in the second, taking just seven shots. Thanks to another off shooting quarter by Lindsay (313), however, the Tigers were able to go up 22-13 at the half.
Lando Belcher caught the hot hand in the third after being held scoreless in the first half,converting a trio of three-pointers. He got some help from a nifty left-handed dunk from Valenzuela as the lead ballooned to 15 with 2:47 left in the third. Lindsay was held to 1-13 shooting in the stanza, enabling the Tigers to go up 37-20 heading into the fourth frame.
The Tigers had their first true scoreless streak of the game, missing its first six shots of the fourth until a Swan bucket with 2:20 gone which extended the lead to 41-21. Three-pointers by Swan and Randall Bustos and a Luke Sams bucket enabled to the Tigers to pull away late.
Jacksboro, which went 14-35 from the free throw line vs. Windthorst, was 7-13 vs. Lindsay.
Swan led a trio of Purple players in double figures with 14 points. Valenzuela added 13 and Belcher 10. Kane Wolf paced Lindsay with nine points.
