By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
The West Jessamine Colts decided to keep it simple — they went to Jarrod.
Damon Kelley’s club wasn’t searching for diamonds or rubies last night at The PC Gym, but they were looking for the crown jewel of basketball — a second consecutive 12th Region Tournament title.
And, senior point guard Jarrod Polson delivered yet again for the Colts.
As he had done throughout the tournament, the reigning 12th Regional Player of the Year was once again, a one-man wrecking crew in last night’s championship game against Mercer County.
Polson scored his club’s first 10 points of the contest, and finished with a game-high 31, as West Jessamine cut the nets down for the second year in a row, knocking off Mercer County for the third time in four meetings this season, with a hard-fought, 51-48 victory.
West Jessamine led this one from wire to wire, behind the hot shooting of Polson, and a very stingy defense in the first half.
Mercer County was held scoreless early on, until a Jamel Taylor putback over four minutes into the contest.
The Titans managed but 15 points in the first half of play, while Polson had scored that many over the same span, as he tallied 15 of his 31 points in the first half.
Thanks to Polson’s offensive production, and the defensive clamps the Colts put on Mercer County’s long-range shooters of Kasey McRay and Clay Cinnamon, it was West Jessamine going into the intermission with a comfortable, 24-15 lead over the Titans.
“I’ve preached from day one to our guys that defense is what wins championships,” pointed out Kelley, after his club moved to 26-7 with the win.
“In the first half, our defense was simply outstanding, and Mercer County maybe only got two easy looks for the entire half,” added the West Jessamine head coach. “They came out in the third quarter and they started making shots, and I don’t care who you are, when you shoot the ball well, you’re going to get back into any ballgame. All in all, our kids stepped up and made the plays when they had too, and Jarrod was phenomenal once again tonight. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the state.”
As bad as things went offensively for the Titans in the first half of play, they went just as good for Mercer County beginning in the third quarter.
McRay, held to only five points in the first half, drained three treys by himself in the third stanza alone, helping the Titans get back into this one, trailing West by a 41-37 margin through three quarters of play.
Early in the fourth quarter, a McRay lay-up trimmed the West Jessamine lead down to a bucket, at 45-43, but then Polson scored his sixth consecutive point to begin the final stanza, easing the Colts lead back out to four points, 47-43.
Matthew Honchel then drilled a three-pointer with 4:02 remaining in the game, bringing the Titans to within a single point, at 47-46.
While West Jessamine went cold over the next two and a half minutes, Mercer County couldn’t get over the proverbial hump.
The Titans came downcourt on four straight trips with the score 47-46 in favor of the Colts, and four straight times Nelson Cundiff’s team couldn’t hit a shot to take a lead.
Finally, a Polson drive to the hole and foul gave him the old-fashioned three-point play, putting West Jessamine back up by four points, 50-46, with :59 left in the contest.
At that point, Mercer County hadn’t scored in over three minutes of play, and had squandered four golden opportunities to claim its first lead in this affair.
With Polson’s ability to handle the rock at crunch time and shoot free throws, the Titans were in some big-time trouble, down four points with less than a minute left on the clock.
Still, for coach Kelley, in his first year at the helm of the West Jessamine program, a 12th Regional championship certainly didn’t come easy.
“It will never come easy when you get to a regional championship game, and it’s going to be a battle down to the wire every time,” stated Kelley.
“Mercer has got a great basketball team and they’ve been playing really well,” continued the West Jessamine head coach. “They had a great season, and they certainly got hot from three-point range in the second half, and it enabled them to get back into the ballgame.”
After Polson hit on one of two from the charity stripe with :23 left giving West a 51-48 lead, Mercer County had two three-point attempts on its last possession of the game to potentially tie this one up.
However, McRay’s heavily contested three from beyond the top of the key just before the horn sounded clanged off the rim, and the Colts were coming out of the 12th Region headed to Rupp Arena for the second year in a row.
Polson, with his game-high 31 points was the lone West Jessamine player to hit for double figures in this battle between 46th District foes, while the Titans were paced by McRay’s 16 points, and reserve Austin Seagraves added 11.
Members of the 2010 12th Regional All-Tournament Team were Kyle Hopper from Wayne County, Casey County’s Kyle Jeffries, McCreary Central’s Adam Roark, Tevin Raines from Danville, Jacob Bodner and Cory Jones from Boyle County, Pulaski County’s Tyler Jenkins and Zach Eastham, Mercer County’s Aaron Lee, Clay Cinnamon, and Kasey McRay, and West Jessamine’s Dylan Pohl, David Elliott, Gus Sherrow, and the tourney’s Most Valuable Player, Jarrod Polson.
Mercer County ended its season with a record of 22-10, while West Jessamine will take a 26-7 mark into next week’s Sweet 16 State Tournament, which kicks off one week from today at Rupp Arena.
MC 8 7 22 11 — 48
WJ 12 12 17 10 — 51
MERCER CO. — McRay 16, Seagraves 11, Honchel 6, Taylor 6, Mayes 4, Cinnamon 3, Lee 2
WEST JESSAMINE — Polson 31, Pohl 7, Sherrow 4, Mefford 3, Strait 2, Bartholomew 2, Elliott 2
