JACKSONVILLE — By Jay Neal

sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Jacksonville’s array of weapons proved to be too much for Henderson Friday night at the JHS Gymnasium.

The Lions put up a good fight, but as soon as they shut down one Indian, another would step up and get the job done.

In the end, Jacksonville upped their worksheet to 21-6, 8-0 in District 14-4A, by beating the Lions 62-50.

The Indians need just one win in their final two games this week to clinch a league championship — Jacksonville travels to Kilgore Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season Friday at home against Lindale.

For a 4:37 span that began late in the opening quarter and ended early in the second, Jacksonville exhibited lights out basketball.

As a result of the 18-0 Indian run during that time span, Jacksonville forged out a 29-11 lead with 6:17 to go in the first half.

The Indians struggled to match that intensity the rest of night though and despite taking large double-digit leads on the Lions (12-16, 2-6) on several occasions, Henderson was able to get back in the game — twice even shrinking the Tribe’s margin to single digits.

“Except for the last four minutes or so of the second quarter, I thought we played pretty good,” Jacksonville head coach, Brent Kelley said following the game. “(Tradarreon) Moreland got in early foul trouble and we made too many turnovers in the second quarter.

“We will have to work on playing better for an entire game and to be more consistent throughout.”

The 18-point Tribe progression was nearly washed out by an 11-0 spurt from the Lions, who did not play like a district also ran, as Henderson closed to within six points at the break, 31-25.

Much of the Indians’ opening-half success came as the result of the play of Moreland and Duke Hamilton — Moreland had nine points in the first quarter and Hamilton scored eight first-half points while also snatching eight rebounds in the first 16 minutes.

With Moreland relegated to the pine because of  foul trouble and the Lions’ ability to slow Hamilton down in the third quarter, Jacksonville was forced to go to Justin Davis for its offensive spark in the final half.

Davis answered the bell by going 5-of-5 from the field, including one shot from downtown, in the final-two periods.

Davis, one of three Indians to finish in double figures, scored 13 points — Moreland turned in a team-best 16, while Hamilton had 12 points (and 12 rebounds as well).

Jacksonville moved in front by 13 points, 41-28, when Devonte Hinton collected a put back from the low paint at the 4:19 mark of the third stanza.

Henderson came right back and needed just two minutes to pull to within eight, 41-33, as the Indians continued to struggle holding the double-digit lead against the Lions.

Leading 44-36 going into the fourth, it was Davis that scored six of the Tribe’s first eight points in the last frame, as Jacksonville went ahead by 14 points, 52-38, with 3:46 to play, following a reverse scoop by Davis.

Henderson got to within 11 on their next trip down the floor thanks to a triple from Jonathan Jones that made the score 52-41 — Jones was also the game’s leading scorer with 23 points.

Moreland nixed any ideas the Lions had about closing the gap to single digits this time by scoring an old fashioned three-point play that turned out to be the dagger shot.

Moreland first tapped in a deuce from pin-point range and was also fouled by a Lion in the process. Moreland capped off the three-point play by sinking the free throw to put the Tribe in front 55-41.

The Lions continued to fight but could get no closer than 10 points when Tyrell Jenkins buried a trey from straight away that made the score 58-48 with just over 20 seconds left.

Jacksonville out shot the Lions 42.3-percent (22-of-52) to 34.6-percent (18-of-52) from the field and also out rebounded Henderson 38-24.

Jacksonville 62, Henderson 50 (boys)



    1    2    3    4    -Tot.

HHS    10    15    11    14    -50

JHS    21    10    13    18    -62



HHS — Jonathan Jones, 23; Jake Goode, 2; Tyrell Jenkins, 15; Dale Barnes, 2; DeVanta Lewis, 3; Jay O’Neal, 3; LeMarcus Brown, 2.

JHS — Tradarreon Moreland, 16; Duke Hamilton, 12; Chris Hall, 2; Ryan Black; 9; Brandon Orr, 2; Justin Davis, 13; LaVonte Franklin, 2; Devonte Hinton, 6.



Three point goals  — HHS: Jenkins, Jones (2), Lewis, O’Neal; JHS: Black.



Rebounds — HHS: 24; JHS: 38.



Turnovers — HHS: 14; JHS: 14.



Records — Henderson (12-16, 2-6); Jacksonville (21-6, 8-0)



Next game — Henderson at Lindale, 7:30 p.m. ,Tuesday; Jacksonville at Kilgore, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday.