4A Thomas Jefferson Vs Sierra: Recap & Takeways
Monday night marked the opening night of the 2019-2020 basketball season, with several good games taking place. The 4A game of the night on Monday had preseason Top-ten (8) Thomas Jefferson vs Sierra. Below we take a look at how…
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Continue ReadingMonday night marked the opening night of the 2019-2020 basketball season, with several good games taking place. The 4A game of the night on Monday had preseason Top-ten (8) Thomas Jefferson vs Sierra. Below we take a look at how the game played out, with some of the top takeaways from the matchup.
TJ showed why they belong in the Preseason 4A Top-Ten Rankings
Thomas Jefferson came out victorious Monday night against Sierra, winning 73-58. The Spartan’s were led by Senior guard, Darius Hornbuckle who finished the game with 23 points, shooting three of five from behind the three point arc. TJ had a well balance scoring attack, with three players in double-digits scoring, Jason Adusie the 6’3 senior forward was second on the team in scoring with 13 points, he also did a nice job protecting the rim with three blocks on the night. Senior, James Abbey jr. also had a nice game for the Spartans doing a little bit of everything. He led the team in rebounds (8) and assists (3) while adding 10 points. The Spartans also got nice contributions from junior, Ryan Moe who finished with nine points and three steals as well as sophomore, Said Mobasher who had eight points going two of three from behind the three-point arc. Thomas Jefferson shot the ball well from behind the arc, shooting fifty percent (8/16) with five different players hitting a three. As a team they also shot seventy-one percent (17/24) from the foul-line, they did a nice job of attacking the rim and rewarding themselves from the line.
Darius Hornbuckle
Darius Hornbuckle showed Monday night why he is one of the top scoring guards in 4A this year and should be in for a monster senior season leading the way for Thomas Jefferson. Darius did a little bit of everything on Monday night, finishing with 23 points, nine of those came from behind the three-point arc, shooting three of five. He was great from mid-range and around the rim as well, shooting seventy-one percent (5/7) and he did his job from the charity strip knocking down four out of his five attempts. He is a dynamic scoring guard who can create for himself off the dribble, scoring from all three levels on the court. His stat line also included; five rebounds, five steals, and two assists. It will be fun to watch Hornbuckle lead this team this year.
Sierra
Sierra lost several key seniors last year that include; Eugene (Eddie) Whitmore who led them in scoring last year with 14.7 points per game as well as their third leading scorer in Isaish Wilburn who averaged 11.9 points per game and led them in rebounding with 6.8 RPG. Sierra will lean on Dailen Terry, Imani Grigsby and Ramsey Whitaker this year to carry the way for them. Monday night was a good first test to see how this group would gel this year, the big question for them this year is who will help Grigsby lead the way for the Stallions. Sierra did a nice job of hanging with TJ for the majority of the game, but gave up 28 points in the 4th which ended up costing them the game. Terry led the way for Sierra with 26 points, knocking down a pair for threes and converting ten of twelve attempts from the foul-line. Grigsby was the second leading scorer with 19 points. Sierra only had five players score in the game.