Stating its case for the number one seed for the Section 3AA South Sub-Section tournament, the Jackson County Central boys basketball team was a 69-60 winner over Pipestone Thursday in the auxiliary gym at JCC High School.
The Huskies had the lead throughout the game, usually in the range of 5-6 points. JCC’s biggest lead was 57-47 and its lead was 62-53 before the Arrows trimmed it to 62-57. The Huskies made six straight free throws down the stretch to salt the game away.
“I thought we did a lot of really good things on offense but the difference was our defense,” said JCC Coach Alex Hein. “Our defense is just so much better that it was a few weeks ago. Identifying what teams are trying to do and then rebound the ball well.
“They made runs because we rushed on offense sometimes and took some tough shots. When we were patient offensively we got everything we wanted all night, so that was good to see. They switched defenses and we were able to figure it out and execute. That’s a really good win for us.”
Jackson County Central had four players score in double figures and another on the cusp.
Erik Hesebeck led the way with 16 points, Roman Voss scored 13, Christian Benda 12, Travis Rogotzke 11 and Weston Rowe nine.
Hesebeck grabbed six rebounds and Rowe five. Voss and Hesebeck each had four assists.
JCC is 14-8 on the season including a 10-2 record within the section. Pipestone is 12-9 overall including 9-4 in the section. The teams split their regular-season series as the Arrows won 90-86 in Pipestone on Jan. 20.
“If we do end up meeting each other in the playoffs now we know we can beat them instead of being down 0-2 against them.” Hein said.
Each team has one game remaining before section seeding takes place.
The Arrows have a nonconference game at Russell-Tyler Saturday, while the Huskies are off until hosting New Ulm next Thursday.’
JCC then plays Marshall in Waseca as part of the Big South Conference Showcase at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.
Jackson County Central finished third in its Big South Conference pod behind Waseca and Blue Earth Area.
Pipestone was first in its conference pod finishing ahead of Windom, Luverne, Redwood Valley and St. James Area.
That puts the Arrows in a conference semifinal game against the Large School Pod champion, either New Ulm or Worthington. The Eagles have finished their pod play with a 5-1 record while the Trojans are 4-1 with a game remaining vs. 0-5 St. Peter Tuesday.
Worthington and New Ulm split their season series.
BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE
Boys basketball standings
East Division
Waseca 5-1
Blue Earth Area 4-2
Jackson County Central 3-3
Fairmont 0-6
West Division
Pipestone 6-2
Windom 5-3
Luverne 5-3
Redwood Valley 4-4
St. James Area 0-8
Large School Division
New Ulm 5-1
Worthington 4-1
Marshall 2-4
St. Peter 0-5
Division games only
JCC boys basketball schedule
Sat., Dec. 3: Blue Earth Area, L 65-63
Mon., Dec. 5: Martin County West, W 66-59
Thurs., Dec. 8: at Windom, W 99-91
Tues., Dec. 20: at Luverne, W 77-67
Thurs., Dec. 22: Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey, ppd.
Fri., Dec. 30: Canby at Marshall, W 76-51
Sat., Dec. 31: Montevideo at Marshall, W 69-60
Fri., Jan. 6: Redwood Valley, L 103-99
Sat., Jan. 7: Waseca, W 88-85
Fri., Jan. 13: at Fairmont, W 61-56
Sat., Jan. 14: Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Target Center, L 64-53
Tues., Jan. 17: Luverne, W 83-64
Fri., Jan. 20: at Pipestone, L 90-86
Tues., Jan. 24: at Blue Earth Area, L 71-60
Fri., Jan. 27: at Waseca, L 61-58
Tues., Jan. 31: at Worthington, L 90-57
Fri., Feb. 3: Windom, W 106-91
Mon., Feb. 6: St. James Area, W 79-68
Tues., Feb. 7: Fairmont, W 62-44
Fri., Feb. 10: at Marshall, W 61-59
Mon., Feb. 13: at Southwest Minnesota Christian, L 85-70
Tues., Feb. 14: at Redwood Valley, W 69-60
Thurs., Feb. 16: Pipestone, W 69-60
Thurs., Feb. 23: New Ulm, 7:15 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 25: Marshall at Waseca, 11:30 a.m.