By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — Heading into Tuesday night’s clash between visiting West Jessamine and Somerset at the Briar Patch, the number one goal was to, well, fix the goal.
During pregame warm-ups on West Jessamine’s end of the floor, the rim came loose from the backboard, and became tilted downward several inches, making it impossible for the game to proceed at that moment.
That incident forced about an hour and fifteen minute delay before this one ever tipped off.
When these two finally got to battle on the hardwood, the home-standing Briar Jumpers gave the defending 12th Regional champions everything they wanted — for a half at least.
These two went in tied at 20-20 at the intermission, but Gus Sherrow led everybody with 18 points, while Jarod Polson, the reigning 12th Regional Player of the Year, scored all 11 of his points in the second half, and as a result, it was Somerset falling to 4-16 on the season with a 51-37 setback.
“We’ve had some practice time of late to be able to do some things that we needed to do,” stated SHS head coach Don Daniel after the game.
“I think right now, we’re probably where I thought we would be in late-December,” pointed out Daniel. “We’re looking at, instead of the four wins where we stand right now, I really think we’re a legitimate eight, ten, or 12. I really do think that we are now playing with that kind of moxey and intensity.”
Indeed, despite the fact Somerset came in with a 4-15 mark on the year, compared to West Jessamine’s 16-6 record, this one was competitive from the outset.
Somerset did an outstanding job defensively on the Colts’ Polson, holding him without a single point in the first half of play.
And, the Briar Jumpers took full advantage of Polson’s struggles offensively, as well as his foul trouble early on.
The Jumpers were able to stay in this one primarily in the first half thanks to excellent work done from the charity stripe.
While West Jessamine didn’t attempt a free throw in the opening half of play, Daniel’s club made a respectable seven of 10 from the free throw stripe, enabling Somerset to go in at the break all knotted up with the Colts at 20-20.
In the third quarter however, thanks to a burst from Sherrow, West Jessamine methodically began to pull away from Somerset.
Sherrow scored on a nice move in the lane, and then followed that up with a trey, extending the Colts lead out to 25-20 very early in the third quarter of play.
A D.J. Townsend three whittled that deficit to 25-23, but Polson finally got on track with a follow up, moving the advantage out to 27-23.
Late in the quarter, Somerset had trimmed the lead down to just a single point at 31-30, but Kyle Mefford, who hit for 11 points in the win, nailed his third trey of the night before the quarter ended, giving the Colts a 34-30 lead through three quarters of play.
Through the first three quarters, Somerset had hit on eight of 11 attempts from the free throw line, enabling the Briar Jumpers to stay within striking distance of West Jessamine.
Any chance whatsoever of the big-time upset coming down the stretch hit the proverbial wall in the final period.
In the fourth quarter, Somerset’s free throw shooting went south and in a hurry, as Daniel and company shot an abysmal, four of 15 from the free throw line in the last stanza.
“Normally, a guy would look at that and say that is fatigue, and it could be,” said Daniel, in referring to his team’s fourth quarter free throw woes.
“We have however, made a concerted effort to work our conditioning over the past month, because we were so out of shape early in the season because of football,” stated the Jumper head coach. “I think we are much better in shape than we were early in the year, but tonight, I think we were in three quarters shape, and didn’t have enough gas to get through that fourth quarter.”
When asked about the over one-hour delay before the game could get started due to the loose rim, and if that affected his club in any way, Daniel said he didn’t think it was a factor.
However, the Somerset coach wasn’t exactly pleased about the miscue with the goal either.
“It’s a big deal and I’m embarrassed about it to be quite honest with you,” said Daniel.
“Things like that shouldn’t happen, and thank goodness you have a principal like Mark Murray who will step up and get the work done,” Daniel remarked, referring to Murray’s work on the goal to get it repaired. “That wasn’t a maintenance man, that wasn’t a custodian, that was this school’s principal who stepped up to make sure that we got this game in, and that’s the kind of guy that he is. These goals have been a problem from day one, they need to be fixed, and they need to be fixed right, but thank goodness Mark Murray stepped up.”
Townsend tied with Sherrow for game-high scoring honors, leading Somerset with 18 points, while teammate Clayton Stringer chipped in with 10 points.
The Jumpers will return to action on Friday night, when Somerset will host Pulaski County in a 47th District contest at The Briar Patch.
WJ 12 8 14 17 — 51
SHS 7 13 10 7 — 34
WEST JESSAMINE — Sherrow 18, Mefford 11, Polson 11, Batholomew 6, Pohl 5
SOMERSET — Townsend 18, Stringer 10, Henderlight 7, Jones 2
