MURFREESBORO, Tenn - The Hustlin’ Tigers were trailing 54-51 with around 20 seconds left in the game, and they needed someone to hit a shot. Point guard Xavier Fisher was the one tagged with making something happen, and he made a hesitation move on the left wing before he began his shooting motion over a good contest. It would be the shot of the year if it went in and tied the game.
Instead, the shot was off and the Jackson Southside Hawks held on for the eventual 59-51 win.
It was a game of runs, offensive rebounds, and tough shots and tougher fouls.
“The most heartbreaking part of this loss is watching my guys be hurt, and feel like they didn’t’ show up,” Howard coach James Talley said. “They did, and they just came up short.”
The first quarter was an upbeat and uptempo affair filled with fastbreaks and quick shots by both teams. Howard dominated the early portion, utilizing a defense anchored by Kerrick Thorne to stonewall any and all Hawk possessions. While he did his thing on defense, Thorne also showed off some touch inside by scoring six first-quarter points, mostly off hooks and flip shots in the paint. This hot start may have been detrimental in the long run, according the Hustlin’ Tigers’ star bigman.
“We came in, and when we started winning we got a big head.” Thorne said. “We didn’t rebound like the coach said or did what the coach said. But I know we played hard and played our hearts out.”
However, Micheal Ward got the Hawks offense going with a series of deft floaters, sometimes from absurd distances. On one such possession, he was able to get a step on his defender and made his way to the free throw line. Instead of taking a few more dribbles, he just stopped and buried a one-handed push shot. After Meechie Bowens drained a deep three from the left wing and then blocked a shot from behind to temporarily slow down the Hawks onslaught, Ward went back to work.
He put home another floater, and then threw a long pass to Ericko Sain II for a layup that made the one-time rout a 14-12 game. After Thorne hooked in another righty shot (not letting a Jackson flop phase him in the slightest), Maclin ended the quarter by outmuscling four Tigers for the layup.
Howard was completely stifled by Jackson’s morphing zone at the beginning of the quarter. On some possessions, it would resemble a 3-2 zone and made attacking from up top very difficult, while other possessions it would turn into a 2-3 look. And the Hawks were equally adept and perplexing on offense, taking the lead from Howard when Ward softly put in two after leaking out following a Tiger miss.
But while Southside’s solid offense never really slowed down, Howard finally found out how to attack the Hawks’ defense midway through the second quarter. Instead of trying to ram the ball into a set defense, the Tigers used the open court to pepper in shots from close-range. After Thorne blocked yet another shot, the Tigers knew they could take chances when the Hawks had a shot in close, at least in the second quarter.
Howard tied the game when Jadon Jenkins used his rocket-booster legs to race out in transition after a Hawks miss. Instead of laying it in, Jenkins made sure that it would be a sure two points and dunked it in with two hands. Jaylan Cole briefly tied the score at 27 when he canned a midrange jumper from just inside the line, Xavier Fisher made sure that lead would not last.
Fisher acted as if he was going to shoot, but instead fired a rocket of a pass straight into Thorne, who was in the perfect position to make the layup that gave Howard a slim 29-27 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was characterized by an unending wave of strong Hawk attacks at the rim followed by free throws, often coming after a Jackson player landed on the floor in a painful-looking manner. This is where both teams’ lackluster abilities at the stripe became the center of attention. Jackson South Side only made 14-24 from the line, while Howard made 3-8. The Hawks also got foul after foul when they attacked the offensive glass, putting Howard into foul trouble only a few minutes into the second half.
“We just got killed on the boards, and we didn’t box out, so that was the story of the game because they got a lot of rebounds,” coach Talley said.
The rest of the quarter was still exciting, if not sloppy and frenetic, because of the hard fouls and up-and down style. Maclin layups and put backs were answered by Jenkins drives and Thorne hookshots. Neither team lit it up from beyond the arc, but Fisher did hit two triples from opposite wings to give Howard a 37-33 lead. Fisher later drove through contact and laid the ball in to give the Tigers a 45-42 lead going into the final quarter.
While Howard held a small lead for most of the quarter, the Hawk’s victory seemed inevitable as Howard’s foes rag dolled the Hustlin’ Tigers on the glass. When Ward connected with Jaylan Cole for yet another layup, the Hawks would take a lead they would not give up. Fisher missed a desperation three, and Ward added insult to injury by making a halfcourt shot as time expired.
Despite the result, coach Talley told his players to hold their heads high in the postgame press conference, and consoled a distraught Meechie Bowens and Kerrick Thorne. While the Hawks got their fair share of offensive boards, the Hustlin’ Tigers did grab 11 offensive boards in the half, showing the kind of fight that was fitting of their team’s name.
“There’s nothing that cannot make me not proud of these guys,” coach Talley said. “They showed up every day, and even worked during the shutdown. They did everything I asked them to do, from the time they came to Howard to the time they left Howard. Now they get to go and see what they do with the next step.”
Summary:
HOWARD 16 13 16 6 - 51
JACKSON SOUTH SIDE 14 13 15 17 - 59
HOWARD (51) - Greer 6, Kerrick Thorne 14, Bowens 3, Xavier Fisher 10, Hall 2, Dixon 3, Jadon Jenkins 11, Dupree 2
SOUTH SIDE (59) - Sain II 7, Anderson 2, Micheal Ward 20, Brandon Maclin 16, Jaylan Cole 13
3-POINT GOALS: Howard 6 (Greer 2, Fisher 2, Bowens, Jenkins); Jackson South Side 1 (Ward)