Sectionals: Kokomo vs. Lafayette Jeff
In the opening game of Sectionals at Lafayette Jeff, it was a battle through three quarters starting off with a ton of turnovers and missed shots while both teams tried to gain an advantage. While things picked up in the second quarter, Kokomo relied on Trajan Deckard and Anthony Barnard to get them through. Lafayette Jeff had a little more variety and looked more confident shooting the ball.
As the game wore on, Lafayette Jeff worked more on the perimeter and that opened up things inside and Marell Jordan began to take over. He finished with 14 points and did a good chunk, at least the most important part of that in the second half.
Jeff was up 3 heading into the fourth quarter but Kokomo was never able to get that third scorer to give them enough options to catch up and Jeff spread them out and finished off the game scoring 19 points in the fourth and winning, 50-39.
Best Offensive Player: Marell Jordan (Lafayette Jefferson)
The best I have seen Jordan play. He had it all working tonight including a highlight reel alley-oop to spark a big run from Jeff. His 6/12 shooting was huge as he helped balance out Jeff’s three-point barrage. Jordan can really shoot the ball but didn’t focus on that this much in the game. Well balanced and effective.
Best Defensive Player: Anthony Barnard (Kokomo)
Barnard was really impressive in his final game for Kokomo. He went for 11 rebounds, 8 of which came on the defensive end. He was the only player able to really slow down Jeff in the lane and wasn’t really giving them second chance points, they finished with just three. His length and size really made things tough on Jeff and should translate well to the next level.
Biggest Surprise: Poor Shooting
The biggest takeaway from this game was the poor shooting for both teams. Kokomo went 15/48 for 31.3% and Lafayette Jeff went 18/40 for 45%. Jeff was just 34.8% in the first half. The only reason they were able to pull away was their rise in shooting ability. Coming in, Barnard and James Burns can do a lot on offense and the lack of size, you would think they could have a good shot to finish at the rim but those two combined for 7/19 from the field.
Top Scorers:
Marell Jordan (Lafayette Jefferson) – 14 points (6/12 FG), 5 reb, 3 ast
Anthony Barnard (Kokomo) – 13 points (4/13 FG), 11 reb, 4 ast
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Final |
Kokomo |
10 | 22 | 28 | 39 |
Lafayette Jeff |
8 | 23 | 31 | 50 |