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PJC avoids Cavs stunner
By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News
Published November 22, 2009
Tom Schuberth, welcome to basketball in Region XIV.
The Paris Junior College Dragon head coach and many of his players were introduced to the difficulties of the conference slate Saturday at the Hunt Center, where they squeaked out a 74-72 victory over the Bossier Parish Cavaliers.
That victory was still in doubt with three seconds remaining in the contest, but PJC sophomore guard Demarkus Wilson blocked a potential game-winning 3-pointer to secure the win for PJC (8-1, 1-0).
Bossier Parish (3-2, 0-1) was a cellar dweller a year ago and failed to make the conference tournament at the end of the season, but the parity of the conference was noticeable once again as the Cavaliers displayed a never-say-die attitude until the end.
At the final buzzer, Schuberth breathed a sigh of relief and he and his team, which predominantly consists of players who had never competed in a Region XIV contest, enjoyed a win in their first conference game of the season.
“It’s very important. We needed to win that first conference game,” the first-year Dragon head coach said. “I knew coming in how good this conference is and this game was a perfect example of that.”
The Dragons held a 39-31 advantage at halftime and extended it to a 10-point lead early in the second half but couldn’t run away with the lead at any point in the second half.
Despite not being able to pull away, PJC still held onto that lead for the majority of the half. Bossier Parish stayed within striking distance and finally tied it at 65-all after three successful free throws by Decorey Jones.
PJC went ahead once again after a driving layup by Tonye Smith, which he followed with a free throw about 30 seconds later on a separate play.
The Cavaliers then responded with a pair of free throws by Gavin Mitchell to cut the deficit to one point. A put-back by Christian Larry gave them their first lead since the midpoint of the first half.
Smith gave PJC the lead for what proved to be the final time after a 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining.
Bossier Parish ultimately had a chance at the end of the game to take the win, but Wilson’s block thwarted that effort and allowed PJC to get the victory.
“Bossier never quit,” Schuberth said. “There were several times they could have folded, but they didn’t. I’ve got a lot of respect for their team.”
The Dragons had problems making shots on a consistent basis in the game, most notably in their 3-point shooting. They made only four treys in the game, which was their lowest total for a single game this season.
“It’s good to have a game like that now so we’ll know what to do later in situations like we had tonight,” said sophomore forward Latay Darden, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. “And it was good to be able to pull it out, even when the shots weren’t falling.”
The shooting percentage was poor in the beginning of the contest for PJC, which played lackadaisically early in the contest and faced a 10-7 deficit before Schuberth called a timeout.
Wilson and Darden came out of the timeout with back-to-back buckets to give the Dragons the lead once again. The lead wavered between the two teams until PJC regained it after a shot by Desmond King.
The Dragons then closed out the half by scoring six unanswered points to take a 39-31 lead into halftime.
King was PJC’s leading scorer, as he finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. Smith and Darden had 11 points apiece.
Bossier Parish was led by Larry’s 18 points. Mitchell scored 14 points. Darius Richardson scored 11 points and Adrian Caldwell scored 10.
The Dragons are scheduled to travel to face Tyler Junior College at 6 p.m. Tuesday in another conference game. Tyler (6-1, 1-0) picked up an 84-82, double-overtime road win over Trinity Valley Community College on Saturday.
Bossier Parish 31 41 — 72
PJC 39 35 — 74
Bossier Parish (3-2, 0-1): Christian Larry 18, Gavin Mitchell 14, Darius Richardson 11, Adrian Caldwell 10, Decorey Jones 8, Jeremy Malone 6, Jasaan Roberson 5. FT 8-11. Threes 7 (Richardson 3, Caldwell 2, Mitchell 1, Roberson 1). Fouls 21.
PJC (8-1, 1-0): Desmond King 22, Tonye Smith 11, Latay Darden 11, Jeremy Holmes 9, Demarkus Wilson 8, Calvin Brown 5, Bryce Cartwright 3, Terrence Bowman 3, Sedric McBounds 1, Generra Varmall 1. Threes 4 (Brown 1, Holmes 1, Smith 1, Bowman 1). Fouls 14.
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