GREYHOUND HOOPS
Ask most boys basketball coaches in the Greyhounds’ region, and they’ll likely assert that Region 2-AAAAA is among the state’s toughest. If a team can be among those advancing to the state tournament, it has a chance to make some noise. Case in point – all four postseason teams from the region advanced to the state quarterfinals last year.
The Greyhounds will be among those in the state tournament for the second year in a row.
Seeded fourth in the region tournament, Jones County rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit on Monday to take down Union Grove 66-61 in overtime. The victory for the Greyhounds came less than three weeks after Union Grove beat Jones County 68-58.
But with the stakes mattering the most on Monday, Jones County prevailed, improving its record to 18-7 overall. Leading the way was Jaden Stanley with 20 points, Kaden Douglas adding 13 to addition to Jaleel Jordan’s 12, all of which came on three pointers. Having clinched a state tournament berth, the Greyhounds face Dutchtown in the tournament semifinal on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in a tournament at Dutchtown. An upset of the top-seeded Bulldogs would vault the Greyhounds to Friday’s region championship game, while a loss would set them up for the third-place game against the loser of Thursday’s other semifinal likely between Eagles Landing and Dutchtown. JCHS split both of its regular season games against both of those teams.
A split of the final two games of the season last week sent Jones County into the region tournament as the fourth seed. The Greyhounds took early momentum last Tuesday against Ola, leading 32-17 prior to getting an even bigger piece of it with a 30-point third quarter on the way to an 80-46 win.
Kaden Douglas led the Greyhounds with 17 points against the Mustangs, one of four Greyhounds in double figures with 16 from Jaleel Jordan, 10 from Zacarri Thomas and 12 by Tyler Wold.
In Friday’s regular- season finale, firstplace Dutchtown showed off its well-earned reputation, winning 70-50. Whether it was rebounding or the way that the Bulldogs were able to run their offense up and down the floor, Dutchtown had too many elements for the Greyhounds to answer on a night when Douglas scored 18 points to lead JCHS.
“No excuses. Dutchtown is a very talented team, and they have played a really tough schedule,” Greyhounds head coach Buck Harris said. “They’ve seen good teams. We didn’t have to play perfect, but we had to play near-perfect in a lot of ways. This game came down to toughness and taking care of the ball, and we didn’t do that. Hats off to Dutchtown.”
It wrapped up the regular season for the Greyhounds with an overall record of 17-7 and 7-5 in the region, putting Jones County in position to need a win this past Monday to qualify for the state tournament. It was a place in which they rose to occasion.
“It’s win or go home,” Harris said.
