Bracken County’s Blake Reed receives a pass from brother and teammate Cayden Reed. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
39TH DISTRICT TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
Bracken County’s Blake Reed puts up a jumpshot. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
St. Patrick’s Garrett Tesmer passes off to teammate Braxton Swanger. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
St. Patrick’s Braxton Swanger looks to pass to a teammate while guarded by Bracken County’s Nathan Jefferson. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
Coming into Tuesday’s contest with St. Patrick, Bracken County had faced 16 teams with a winning record out of their 25 games played to date.
Tuesday wasn’t a matter of the opponent, facing a Saints team with just one win on the season, but a matter of taking care of business early and getting to Thursday’s 39th District Championship.
The Polar Bears were able to do so with a 81-49 victory, getting 12 players in the scoring column and 43 points from the bench.
“We wanted those guys to be ready. It’s good for them to get the experience, good for them to get to play on this floor. This is where the region is held and a lot of district tournaments on this floor. Good for the guys on the bench to get the experience and some of them are seniors and they deserve it too,” Polar Bears assistant coach Andrew King said, filling in for head coach Adam Reed serving the third game of a three-game suspension.
After a slow start to the contest, it was the bench providing the spark they needed to get the separation they wanted. It started with DeVante Jefferson, ending with a game-high 16 points on a putback to make it 11-4, the bench scoring 11 straight from that point to make it 20-4 and essentially put an end to any upset bid thoughts on the night.
“We said early on last week what we had in mind what we wanted to do. We really turned up the pressure, they threw the pass where we wanted them to make the pass and made good traps without fouling and got some momentum,” King said.
They’d take a 27-4 lead into the second quarter and build their lead as large as 42-9 before going into halftime with a 42-16 advantage.
The Polar Bears went on a 10-1 out of the break to get the game to a running clock at 52-17 on Nathan Jefferson’s layup with 5:30 to go in the quarter.
The Saints showed fight from there, Connor Fields showing off the range with five 3-pointers in the game and 17 points on the evening. The sophomore came into the game with just 44 points scored the entire 23-game regular season.
“Connor really stepped up tonight. His shot has been there, we just needed to find him shots and we did tonight,” Saints coach Tony Moore said.
Fields helped keep things respectable, the Saints closing out the final 16 minutes strong by losing just 39-33 in the second half.
In Moore’s first season with a revamped team hit hard by transfers, he learned quite a bit as a head coach compared to an assistant over the years.
“Being patient. Being patient with what these kids can do. Trying to let the kids know the game is about scores and stops and runs. My assistant coach Jay Walton I learned a lot off of him and he learned a lot off me. Glad he’s on my staff,” Moore said. “We’ll give the guys some rest and here in a couple months we’ll get back at it. We’ll be in the gym getting stronger and stuff like that.”
Fields led with 17, Chase Walton ending with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Allan Briseno chipped in 10 as they closed out at 1-23 on the year.
DeVante Jefferson led the Polar Bears with 16 points, Blake Reed adding 15. Come Thursday night, the Polar Bears will need to shoot it much better, going 3-of-15 from the 3-point line.
“Shooting has really been an Achilles’ heel all year long. We work every single day on shooting the basketball whether it be inside or outside. Sometimes it falls and sometimes it doesn’t. We have a small team, don’t really have an inside presence outside of what we ask of Nate, so with a really small team like we have we have to be able to shoot the basketball and will need to do that Thursday night,” King said.
Bracken County faces Mason County in the title tilt, a team that’s beat them 29 straight times.
“They are very, very well coached. I can’t say enough about what Brian (Kirk) has done with Mason County. They’re playing like a top team in the region. They’re going to be ready, but I will say this…our guys are very competitive and have played a very tough schedule. We’ve been in a lot of those games and have had chances to beat people, we just need to get over that hump. To win a big game, we have to come ready to play and execute the gameplan,” King said.
POLAR BEARS 81, SAINTS 49
BRACKEN COUNTY – 27-15-23-16 — 81
SAINT PATRICK – 4-12-22-11 — 49
Bracken (81) – D. Jefferson 16, B. Reed 15, C. Reed 8, N. Jefferson 8, JW Hesler 7, Teegarden 6, Schultz 6, Commodore 5, Norton 4, Benedict 2, Reynolds 2, Burlew 2
St. Patrick (49) – Fields 17, Walton 14, Briseno 10, Swanger 5, Roush 3
Field Goals: Bracken 32/68, St. Patrick 15/37
3-Pointers: Bracken 3/15, St. Patrick 10/20
Free Throws: Bracken 14/21, St. Patrick 9/15
Rebounds: Bracken 39 (Schultz 5), St. Patrick 28 (Walton 11)
Assists: Bracken 8 (B. Reed 3), St. Patrick 3
Turnovers: Bracken 2, St. Patrick 21
Fouls: Bracken 14, St. Patrick 14
Records: Bracken County 8-18, St. Patrick 1-23
