WHITEHOUSE — Jacksonville scored 38 points in the second half en route to a 56-29 victory over Kilgore in the two-way 4A basketball playoffs Tuesday night at the CL Nix Wildcat Arena.
The second half started just after 19:00 after a nearly 30-minute delay due to a medical emergency in the stands.
When the incident occurred, Koda Kanadi was shooting free throws for Jacksonville with 1.7 seconds left. After Canadi missed his second free throw and Kilgore’s Da’Marion Vanzandt caught the ball on the rebound, play was stopped with 0.6 seconds left at 18:33 as competition officials addressed a spectator.
The game went on hiatus with Jacksonville leading 18–8.
Medical personnel eventually arrived and the gym was cleared of the remaining spectators.
A few minutes before 19:00, after the medical staff took the man out of the gym, the teams returned to the court and the fans were allowed back into the arena.
The remainder of the game was played with two referees.
After Kilgore’s Jayden Sanders scored to open the third Quarter and cut the lead to 18–10, Jacksonville went on a 13–0 streak to start with Canada’s triple. Canadi hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, including one in the closing seconds, to give Jacksonville a 43–23 lead.
Ryan McKeown and Devin McQueen also hit triples in the third quarter.
“Every time you come out of such a long break, you kind of wonder how your kids will react, and we told them that the first two minutes in the third quarter will determine the result of the game,” Jacksonville. said head coach Mark Alexander. “I think they did a good job of reacting and confessing. We had several positive moments that led to this. I think we’re in the big three. It led to this because we weren’t very good at throwing the ball in the first half.”
Jacksonville was 0 for 6 with three-point range in the first half and 5 for 7 from downtown in the third quarter.
Despite early shooting difficulties, the Indians took an 11-0 lead when Kilgore’s Braydon Nelson put the Bulldogs on the board with 19 seconds on the clock with an old-fashioned three-point game. Kilgore was 1 of 9 off the field with six losses in the first quarter, trailing 11-3.
Kilgore had the first two points – two free throws from Eric Armstrong – and the last points – three from Dadrian Franklin – in the second quarter. Jacksonville was 7-0 and led 18-8 at half-time.
Jacksonville had a four-minute drought in the second quarter, while the Bulldogs failed to score for six minutes after not scoring for almost eight minutes in the first quarter.
“Coach (Jeffrey) Coleman is one of the best coaches in East Texas,” Alexander said. “He does a really good job. We were 10 points up at halftime and felt like we had 30 points because we defended well. They work well defensively, putting you down and keeping the ball away from you, making it hard to get points.”
Canadi led Jacksonville with 14 points. Carmelo Claiborne scored 12 points. The other scorers were McQueen 9; McCown 7; Jermain Taylor 6; Davarian Boyd 2; Isaiah Hamilton 2; Kaden Franklin 2; and Derrion Hamilton 2. Canada had four interceptions. Claiborne provided four assists. Boyd grabbed seven rebounds.
Dadrian Franklin led Kilgore (12-16) with 10 points. Nelson had 7 points. Kilgore’s other scorers were Sanders 5; Bobby King 3; Wanzandt 2; and Armstrong 2. Vanzandt had nine rebounds and Sanders had four assists.
No. 20 Jacksonville (24-9) will face either No. 3 Silsby or Liberty in this round.
