(James Rojas & Jamestown earned a split with Lancaster following Monday's road victory / Photo by James McCoy)
After opening league play this season with a big win in Jamestown, which ended a losing streak to the defending league and sectional champs that spanned longer than a decade, Lancaster was suddenly ahead of the Red Raiders in the standings. As the next month played out, the Legends remained in a great spot in ECIC I, setting up a marquee game when the two met again. So when the teams got together for round two, it was dubbed 'Game of the Week' and both teams came ready for a slugfest. With both squads defending like every possession like it would be the one to decide the game, it all came down to which team could hit some shots. Advantage Jamestown.
The Red Raiders got double-figure scoring from four players and connected on eight 3-pointers in a balanced effort, to win a low-scoring affair at Lancaster, 54-49. The win is the fourth consecutive for Jamestown in ECIC I, as they improve to 6-2 in league and 10-4 overall. The Legends slip to 9-3 on the year, 5-2 in league.
"That was a tough game," Jamestown coach Ben Drake said. "Lancaster is big, tough, & physical team and they make you work for your points. I thought they played solid defense and they took away some of the things we were trying to do."
"One difference was we finally started making some shots in the second half," Drake said.
Trailing Lancaster with the game past the midway point of the third quarter, the Red Raiders closed the stanza with seven unanswered points, including a 3-pointer from Matt Hill, to take a 40-34 lead into the fourth quarter. A bucket from Zacc Kinsey, followed by Luke Kindberg's third bomb from downtown to begin the final frame, capped a 12-0 run by Jamestown and gave them its largest lead of the evening, 45-34.
The Legends responded to the double figure deficit with a run of their own. Joe Powers and Collin Murray each put the ball in the basket for Lancaster, along with a pair of free throws from Alex Konst and another from Dan Speyer, to mark a 7-0 run that pulled the Legends back to within four points, 45-41.
But just as the Legends were stealing momentum and thinking comeback, Hill banged a big 3-pointer from the wing in front of the Jamestown bench with 3:11 left in the game, stretching his team's lead back to 48-41.
"When you're playing a game in the 40's & 50's and hit a few 3's, those are big shots," said Drake.
All the rest of Jamestown's scoring in the game would come from the charity stripe. Rojas & Hill each sank three of four attempts in the game's final minute to thwart the Legends last ditch effort to extend the game.
"This is probably a game in December that we wouldn't have won and I think we still have a ways to go, but we're a different team than we were in early December and I just hope that we can keep improving," said Drake.
Following the game, Drake discussed how he was pleased with the progress of Hill and of his growing confidence in the sophomore.
"Every game, Matt Hill gets a little more confident being a sophomore," said Drake. "At the end of the game, we were getting him the ball to shoot those free throws for us."
Rojas finished with a team-high 13 points in the game and kept Lancaster's big man, Alex Damiani, busy all game trying to keep him in check.
"The difference with him right now, is he's making other people better," Drake said of Rojas. "When he's getting double & triple teamed, he's finding the open guys and creating shots for them."
Hill and Kindberg each netted 11 points in the game for Jamestown, while Kinsey finished with 10 points.
Powers scored a game-high 16 points on the evening, while Konst added 15 points for Lancaster in the loss.
Point Totals
Jamestown: James Rojas 13, Matt Hill 11, Luke Kindberg 11, Zacc Kinsey 10, Noah Johnson 6, Tyler Hind 3
Lancaster: Joe Powers 16, Alex Konst 15, Vito Fulciniti 9, Collin Murray 4, Alex Damiani 2, Sean Gill 2, Dan Speyer 1
-centercourt
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