By TIM HYDEN, CJ Sports Writer
Somerset — Coach Mark Flynn’s Pulaski County Maroons opened regional play on their home gym Wednesday night against the 12-19 East Jessamine Jaguars. If one judged merely by record, Coach Chris O’Bryan’s team shouldn’t have taken the home standing Maroons down to the wire.
But records can be deceptive. It took all Flynn’s troops could muster down the stretch to put away a quick and scrappy Jaguar team.
“We knew they were a good team coming in here,” said Flynn. “Their record is very deceptive.”
But it looked early like the Maroons might run the Jags out of the gym. Caleb Rowe canned a three on the game’s opening shot, and the Maroons went on to hit their first four field goal attempts to race to a 9-2 lead just two minutes into the game. But the Jaguars called a time out, settled down, and it was suddenly a ball game.
Despite Chris Muse’s three first quarter steals the Jaguars were able to climb out of their early hole. Darrius Jackson and Shane Worley each scored two first quarter baskets to lead the comeback. With only three seconds left in the quarter, Worley’s second bucket gave the Jags a 13-12 lead after the first stanza.
Maroon senior Shawn Whitis carried most of the load in the second quarter, scoring seven of Pulaski’s 15 second quarter points. But the lead would change hands five times in the quarter. East Jessamine seemed to be getting the loose balls and long rebounds that gave them second chances to score, but the Maroons were a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line in the quarter to balance the scales.
After Darrius Jackson, who led the game in scoring with 19 points, sank two free throws at the 1:25 mark, East Jessamine had their biggest lead of the game, 25-21. But PC was about to unleash their secret weapon for the night—Adam Dixon.
A flurry of action saw Dixon nail a jumper to tie it at 25, and then make a beautiful driving lay-up for the lead. The Jaguars’ Jackson responded with a runner that went in as the buzzer sounded. One half of basketball and they were still right where they started—tied.
The Maroons came out in the second half with the intent of finally showing they were the superior team. The first seventy seconds saw baskets by Whitis and Isaac Hart, and East Jessamine quickly called timeout. The Jaguars responded with a 6-2 run of their own to retake the lead 35-33 on another Jackson score. But it was Dixon off the bench again that gave the Maroons the spark they needed. After hitting the shot that tied the game, Dixon fired up a three that ended up practically doing the Riverdance in the rim before falling through and giving the Maroons a three-point lead again. It was this meager margin that Coach Flynn’s squad took into the final quarter of play.
The final eight minutes started ominously, with guard Andrew Webb picking up his fourth foul just 22 seconds in. But the Maroons regrouped. Webb stayed in the game and played with the fouls in a final quarter that saw a total of 51 points scored.
Nine of the 51 fourth quarter points came off the red-shot shooting hand of Adam Dixon. The sharpshooter ended with a team-high 18 points and was named Player of the Game. Dixon’s last two points gave the Maroons a 62-53 lead with a minute to play, but the Jags kept right on fighting.
The fast-paced pressing fourth quarter started to get a little testy when the Jags had to resort to fouling. But both teams managed to shoot a combined 19-21 from the free throw line in the fourth. Testament to East Jessamine’s never-say-die attitude was the fact that they somehow managed to score nine points in the last minute of the game. For perspective’s sake, if they had scored at that pace throughout the game they would have finished with 288 points!
But they didn’t, and Pulaski County salvaged a hard-fought 66-62 win to advance to the semi-finals.
“It’s all about survive and advance,” said Flynn. “I thought we had some defensive lapses tonight, and I was surprised that we didn’t make the commitment to rebound like we needed to, but I’m happy for our team.
Other than Dixon’s performance, Flynn noted the play of point guard Chris Muse.
“Over the last part of the season Chris Muse has given us some excellent point guard play,” said Flynn. “There’s nothing that he is not bringing to the table for us right now. He’s doing everything well.
“And, of course, Dixon hit some huge shots for us to give us a boost in the second half,” Flynn added.
Pulaski County now advances to face one of the region favorites, Lincoln County. The Maroons traveled to Stanford earlier in the year and came away 75-56 losers. But that game and the hard fought tilt against East Jessamine don’t dampen Flynn’s enthusiasm about where his team is.
“Sure, I think we could’ve played better tonight,” Flynn said. “But we’re where we want to be—playing another game. We have an opportunity Monday night to do some good things against one of the best teams in the state of Kentucky. We need to be ready to take our best shot at them.”
One other note on Wednesday’s game: Darrius Jackson was named Player of the Game for East Jessamine after a 19-point effort against the Maroons.
Pulaski plays Lincoln County Monday night at 6:30.
EJ 13 14 10 25 — 62
PC 12 15 13 26 — 66
East Jessamine — Jackson 19, Gainey 17, Whitley 8, Smith 6, Redd 4, Worley 4, Fitch 3, Lamb 1.
Pulaski — Dixon 18, Whitis 17, Muse 11, Hart 10, Webb 7, Rowe 3.
