SILER CITY — While Jets are known for their high-flying capability, it was the Carrboro Jaguars who turned on the after-burners in the second half and soared to an overwhelming 87-70 non-conference victory over Jordan-Matthews on John Phillips Court last Tuesday night.
Placing four starters in double figures, Carrboro evened its overall record at 4-4, whereas J-M stumbled to 4-5 for the year while now surrendering at least 80 points twice in the same season for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.
T.K. Paisant tossed in 32 points to lead all scorers, while Ethan Stutts contributed 15 in addition to Tim Rogers-Neal and Jared Porter finishing with 10 apiece for the Jaguars. The victors shot a blistering 57 percent (30-of-53) from the floor and dominated the boards by a 31-20 margin while turning the ball over 20 times.
Huston Causey topped Jordan-Matthews with 20 points while Camden Fuquay registered 16 and Lanice Hedgepeth added 10. J-M connected on 38 percent (21-of-56) of its field goal attempts while committing 17 turnovers.
“I thought our success tonight stemmed from sharing the ball and finding T.K. inside for easy buckets,” stated Carrboro coach Justin Batts.
“Early on we attacked well in the paint while our press defense led to some transition baskets. But in the second quarter we let J-M back in the game by allowing them to penetrate the lane while we were not doing our assignments on defense.”
“In the second half we stopped giving up the middle, became more aggressive on the glass and contested their shots better while our shooting accuracy really improved.”
Jets’ coach Rodney Wiley stated he knew the Jaguars wanted to run so the goal was to press to slow them down.
“But we got caught up in their style of play, forcing the tempo up and down the court, while Paisant caused us match-up problems all night as he can drive inside or shoot from the perimeter,” said Wiley. “They also hurt us on the boards with their size advantage and they had five guys who can really shoot the ball. We ran into some foul trouble in the second half and got away from playing together while committing too many mistakes that they turned into easy transition points.”
Luke Riggs’ three-pointer from the right wing midway through the opening stanza allowed Carrboro to forge an early 10-4 lead before the Jaguars continued to pull away over the remainder of the quarter behind five points from Rogers-Neal to end the period holding a 22-11 advantage.
Timothy Eubanks’ turnaround hoop off the right baseline, three-pointer from the right side and layup – all in the first 71 seconds of the second quarter – got Jordan-Matthews within six prior to J-M using a 9-3 burst to draw even at 27-all following two Hedgepeth free throws with 2:59 to go in the initial half.
But Paisant’s conventional three-point play 12 seconds later put Carrboro back in front and the Jaguars went on to carry a 34-31 lead into intermission.
After Porter’s trey from the right corner gave Carrboro a 44-40 advantage with 5:21 remaining in the third stanza, back-to-back three-pointers by Causey and Jayden Davis capped an 8-0 Jets’ burst that put Jordan-Matthews up by four with 4:04 left in the frame before Paisant tallied 10 points during a 14-4 quarter-ending run that thrust the Jaguars ahead for good.
An 8-0 Carrboro surge to begin the fourth period elevated the winners’ lead to 66-52, and with Stutts and Paisant combining for 17 points over the last eight minutes the Jaguars maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way, with the final score representing their biggest spread of the evening.