By Jay Neal
sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com
San Jacinto proved it is indeed a force to be reckoned with in the Region XIV South Zone race by defeating Jacksonville College 82-69 in the conference opener, played at the Curtis Carroll Fieldhouse Saturday night.
Although six of the Raven (10-0, 1-0 in Region XIV) wins have come over non-NJCAA opponents, San Jac proved itself to be no fluke as the Ravens buckled down midway through the final half to surpass the Jaguars (4-3, 0-1).
San Jac’s Dion Prewster made only one trey in the second half and fellow-Raven Joshua Wesley hit just a lone field goal in the entire game, but the fact that the two players’ buckets came back-to-back, near the 10-minute mark in the game, seemed to ignite San Jac once and for all.
The two buckets broke open a game tied at 52 as the Ravens moved in front, 57-52, with 10:09 left in the game.
A Bryce Hill jumper from the left side on the Jags’ next possession made the score 57-54, but that turned out to be as close as the Jags would come to pulling out a victory as the Ravens muscled down the rest of the way, gradually extending their lead throughout the remainder of the evening.
JC’s loss spoiled a 24-point effort from Lancaster-freshman Daniel Skinner, who was perfect (7-of-7) from the field in the opening half with several of his buckets coming on crowd-pleasing slam dunks.
The game started off on a favorable note for the Jaguars as JC opened up by scoring the first six points of the contest.
Skinner accounted for JC’s first field goal and made it an “and one” by canning a free throw following the basket.
Gary Robertson’s short-range shot on the next Jag trip down the floor made the score 5-0, with a free throw from Skinner accounting for the final point of the run.
An 11-0 run by San Jac late in the opening segment enabled the Ravens to creep in front of JC, 26-19, with 5:48 to play in the half.
A six-point Skinner outburst in the final two minutes of the half allowed the Jags to pull within one, 34-33, at the break.
After scoring 18 points in the first half, the San Jac defensive adjustments made at halftime did the trick in keeping Skinner in check for the most part in the second half as the 6-foot-4 forward was only able to add six points in the final 20 minutes.
Hill’s 13 points and Eric Kibi’s 12 rounded out the double-digit scorers for JC.
Carrington Tankston, a University of Southern Mississippi signee, led all players with 33 points and 10 rebounds. Lorenzo Freeman netted 13 points and eight boards for the Ravens.
JC will attempt to get back on the winning track at 7:30 p.m tonight when they tackle Angelina College in Lufkin.
Ravens 82
Jaguars 69
1 2 Tot.
SJ 34 48 82
JC 22 26 69
SJ — Kylel Coleman, 12; Marsell Holden, 9; Dion Prester, 9; Carrington Tankston, 33; Lorenzo Freeman, 13; Illja Ivankovic, 4; Joshua Wesley, 2.
JC — Daniel Skinner, 24; Erik Martin, 4; Javae Gilchrist, 4; Sergej Pucar, 3; Jaden Isler, 1; Bryce Hill, 13; Eric Kibi, 12; Gary Robertson, 8.
Three-point goals — SJ-Holden, Prewster (2). Tankston (2); JC- Pucar, Hill.
Records — San Jacinto (10-0, 1-0), Jacksonville College (4-3, 0-1)
Next game — San Jacinto vs. Lamar St.- Port Arthur. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; Jacksonville College at Angelina, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
