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Big 3rd quarter propels Jackson over Tigers

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McClain freshman Hudson Lovett recorded a double-double for the Tigers against Jackson, leading MHS with 12 points and 11 rebounds. (HCP Photos/Jim Jones)
By
Jim Jones, The Highland County Press

The McClain Tigers suffered their fourth straight loss after a three-game winning streak on their home floor Friday night, this one a 59-39 defeat to conference foe Jackson.

McClain took an early 5-2 lead after a long three by senior Zane Adams, but the Ironmen answered with a 12-2 run to close out the opening quarter and led 14-7.

The Tigers found themselves trailing by double digits, 18-7 after back-to-back scores by Jackson early in the second period but this time it would be McClain who went on a run, this one a 13-8 spurt that cut the deficit to just six points at 26-20 at the half.

“I thought my kids showed a lot of grit and toughness tonight. Obviously things didn’t go our way, and we can only control our effort and attitude, and for the most part I thought we did that,” said McClain head coach Jarrod Haines. “Every time that we would make a little comeback, they would do a great job of answering it.”

Big contributors for McClain’s comeback in the second period was a long three by Jordan Bell and a couple old-fashioned three-point plays by Adams and Hudson Lovett.

Jackson’s leading scorer at the break was junior Stephen Jenkins, who had 11 points, and the Tigers were led by Adams with six points, followed by Lovett with five.  

The second half would be the difference in the game when the Ironmen outscored McClain 33-19.  One big bright spot in the game for the Tigers was the play of Lovett, who registered a double-double with a team-high 12 points while pulling down a team-high 11 rebounds.  Senior Riley Cummins also played well offensively, scoring nine points.

“Hudson Lovett had a double-double for us tonight, and with him only being a freshman, he’s kind of growing up in front of our eyes,” Haines said. “He’s been giving us some really good minutes lately, and we need guys like that who can give those kinds of minutes, especially when Zane (Adams) and Jordan (Bell) are drawing a lot of attention defensively. So, it was really nice to see Hudson and Riley step up offensively like they did tonight.

“Jackson is a really good team, and the Jenkins and Wolford kids are a load, and their coach Max Morrow does a really good job with them.  Their offense really bothered us and caused us some problems tonight.”

Jenkins had a game-high 19 points for the Ironmen, and Bodhi Wolford added 15.

“Like I said before, my kids played really hard and got after it, and that’s all I can ask for,” Haines said. “We’re trying hard to build a culture here, even when things don’t go your way, but we just need to trust the process.

“We’ve got a really tough stretch of games now, and hopefully tomorrow against Zane Trace we’ll give a better effort and have a different outcome.”

Individual scoring for McClain: Zane Adams 2,1,6, Riley Cummins 3,2,9, Jordan Bell 2,0,6, Julien Evans 1,0,2, Hudson Lovett 3,6,12, Hayden Angel 1,0,2, O.Sykes 1,0,2. Totals 13,9,39. 3-point goals: Bell 2, Adams 1 and Cummins 1.

The Tigers shot very well from the charity stripe, where they converted 9-of-12 free throws for 75 percent.

Jackson improves to 10-3 overall, while McClain falls to 6-7 on the season.

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