Patriots storm back to knock off Jets

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SILER CITY — Daylin Locklear, Jonathan Foust and Jordan Hodges combined for 67 points, including seven three-pointers, to account for all but 10 of Providence Grove’s points as the Patriots rallied from six down to outscore Jordan-Matthews 17-3 over the last four minutes and ruin the Jets’ Senior Night while claiming a 77-69 PAC 7 2A Conference triumph on John Phillips Court Friday evening in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Sweeping the season series while defeating J-M for the sixth time in their last seven meetings, Providence Grove closed out the regular campaign at 11-12 overall and 6-6 against league rivals to finish fourth in the conference standings, whereas Jordan-Matthews (6-18, 2-10) lost its fourth straight outing and ended up mired in the league cellar tied with Eastern Randolph.

Locklear totaled 26 points, Foust collected 22 and Hodges finished with 19, along with a game-high eight rebounds, as Providence Grove held a 25-21 advantage on the glass.

The Jets’ Caleel Waden led all scorers with 27 points while Camden Fuquay added 22 in a losing effort.

“We got a lot of good post opportunities tonight but missed some easy shots while J-M went from 10 points down to eight points up in the third quarter after making some defensive adjustments, yet we were able to weather the storm and come out on top in the end,” said Patriots’ coach Ben Brickhouse.

“Waden and Fuquay powered their way inside all night for a lot of layups, but we managed to counter their effort by hitting a bunch of clutch three-pointers down the stretch.”

“Locklear, Foust and Hodges all stepped up big for us this evening and made it impossible for Jordan-Matthews to key on any one player.”

Jets’ coach Rodney Wiley remarked when his team abandoned its man-to-man coverage and went to a zone in the third quarter the momentum shifted in J-M’s favor.

“We gave them some different defensive looks after halftime (switching back and forth from a 2-3 to a 3-2 zone) that caused them problems while we did a better job spreading their defense out and driving to the basket to get to the line,” said Wiley.

“But then our offense stalled in the fourth quarter when they forced us away from the basket with their pressure, and in the meantime their ability to hit some deep three-pointers got them back into the game.”

The opening stanza featured five ties and five lead changes before Providence Grove used a 7-0 quarter-ending run, climaxed by three Locklear free throws with no time on the clock, to forge a 20-13 advantage after one period.

A Foust layup with 6:30 left in the second frame allowed the winners to stretch their lead to 25-14 prior to Jordan-Matthews battling back to narrow the difference to 34-28 on Fuquay’s layup with 1:24 to go until intermission.

But the Patriots then took advantage of back-to-back baseline drives by Foust and Hodges over the last 1:13 of the quarter to close out the first half with a 10-point lead.

With Fuquay and Waden teaming up for 18 points in the third stanza, the Jets outscored the visitors from Randolph County 20-2 over the first six minutes to seize a 48-40 advantage before Providence Grove put together a 7-2 spurt to pull within three by the end of the period.

J-M managed to rebuild its lead to 61-54 following Fuquay’s turnaround jumper in the paint with 5:17 remaining in the contest and still led 66-60 with 4:08 showing on the clock prior to being limited to Huston Causey’s trey from the right wing with 8.8 seconds to play while the Patriots were busy reeling off 17 points to open up as much as an 11-point spread before settling for the final margin.