by Rusty Ellis

York Institute Vs. Monterey

The Monterey Wildcats took a two-point lead into the second quarter of Friday’s district semifinal with York, but the Dragons used suffocating defense to clinch their spot in the 5-2A championship in 81-58 fashion.

After the Wildcats took a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, York outscored Monterey 22-3 in the second to take a 37-20 lead intp half. The second frame was powered by six points apiece from Andrew Hall and Will Beaty, and another five points from Heath Wattenbarger.

Beaty scored seven more points in the third quarter, as York extended its lead to 58-38 at the end of the quarter, and cruised to the 23-point victory from there.

Jackson Conatser hit seven threes on the evening and led the way with 27 points, while Beaty finished with 18 points of his own. Hall added 16 points, and Wattenbarger scored 12.

Aiden Roberson paced Monterey with 12 points, and Collin Fowler added 10 points for the Wildcats.

It wasn’t an ideal start for York head coach Rodney Pile, but he felt as if his team adjusted nicely to the way Monterey defended them in the second quarter.

“They came out and held the ball, we sat back in our zone,” Pile said. “They held the ball a lot more and we had to be patient because of that…then at our offensive end, they came out in a box-and-1 and we’ve not seen that all year. We should’ve handled it better than we did, but thankfully we got going in the second quarter and started hitting some shots.”

Pile says the big difference in the second quarter was better ball movement and higher quality shot attempts.

“Little bit better ball movement, early on we were making one pass and then taking the first shot,” Pile said. “I thought our shot selection in the first quarter (could’ve been better), and I thought once we picked the pace up, I thought we gave ourselves some better looks that were more in rhythm.”

The Dragons will make their return to the district title game, something that Pile says is always a blessing to compete in.

“We love being in this game, and we’re very fortunate to be here,” Pile said. “Ever since they changed the region format where the first and second-place teams host, it makes these semifinals much more important. It puts more pressure on you, because you’d rather host a third or fourth-place team than go to a first or second-place team. We’ve just got to be ready to play.”

Jackson County Vs. Smith County

The Jackson County Blue Devils will be the Dragons’ opponent, as the Blue Devils used a barrage of 10 three-pointers to take down the Smith County Owls 71-37.

Senior Waylon Kennedy got the scoring started for Jackson County, as his three first-quarter threes led Jackson to a 16-12 lead to start the second quarter. There, the Blue Devils limited the Owls to just six points in the quarter and got six points apiece from Will McCrary and Alex Meadows to build their lead to 36-18 at the half.

Things didn’t get any easier for Smith County in the third quarter, as they only mustered up eight points to Jackson’s 17, and the Blue Devils hit cruise control from there for the 34-point victory.

McCrary and Kennedy tied for game-high honors with 16 points apiece, while Parker Patterson added 13 points. Meadows finished with 11 points to round out the scorers in double figures.

Peyton Hix led Smith County with 14 points.

For JCHS head coach Kevin Thomas, he admits to feeling nervous about his team’s inexperience coming into this game, but once the game started, he felt as if they settled in pretty quickly.

“I just loved their intensity, they really came out and locked into what we wanted to do defensively,” Thomas said. “I told them it was just another basketball game and not to worry about the emotion surrounding it, and they did just that.”

The second quarter proved to be the biggest difference in the game, though it only saw the Blue Devils hit two of their 10 total three-point makes. Thomas says he liked that they didn’t go away from the paint despite the perimeter success.

“I thought we really started getting the ball in transition, and out of our 20 points, we got 14 of those points inside the arc,” Thomas said. “I think you can mark that up to getting in transition and finishing at the rim.”

Now Jackson will take on York at 7:30 P.M. on Tuesday, a game that Thomas is ecstatic to see his younger guys play in.

“It never gets old, when these kids were in eighth grade, they would come and watch this game when I had older teams in it,” Thomas said. “It’s just great for them, I’m really excited for them to get this opportunity.”