By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
It got out of hand in the second quarter and it stayed that way as Jacksonville trounced non-conference rival Cabot 79-42 at the Devils’ Den on Tuesday night.
Guard Raheem Appleby had a big night with 24 points and Jacksonville put its depth to work to grind down Cabot after the Panthers had pulled within one point of the lead late in the second quarter.
“We were just going to keep it sped up,” Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner said. “We just wanted to run.”
Cabot was within 32-31 when Kai Davis made a three-pointer with 54 seconds left in the second quarter. But Appleby, who scored his team’s first nine points, made a jumper as the Red Devils outscored the Panthers 7-0 to close out the half.
“I wish we could go back and do the last 30 seconds of the second quarter,” Cabot coach Jerry Bridges said. “We had the ball down one, 30 seconds to go if I remember correctly and then it just snowballed.”
Chuck Matione made an inside shot to open the second half for Cabot, but De’shjon Penn got a rebound and putback to make it 42-33 to start an 18-1 Jacksonville run that ended with Dewayne Waller’s three-pointer that increased the lead to 57-34 with 1:56 left in the third quarter.
The Red Devils led 69-41 when Appleby made a layup with 5:28 to go in the game, and 12 seconds later Dustin House converted a three-point play with 5:06 left for the 70-41 lead.
The 30-point margin triggered the sportsmanship/timing rule and the continuously running clock and the Red Devils outscored the Panthers 7-1 in the race to the finish.
“We just know the style that we wanted to play and we wanted to play up-tempo,” Joyner said.
Justin McCleary added 16 points for Jacksonville (3-0) and joined with Appleby to form a 1-2 combination Bridges found hard to defend.
“I think he’s got a good nucleus,” Bridges said of Joyner. “I’ll tell you what, that No. 3 and that No. 4 those are two good guards. His second string was bigger; they weren’t as quick as the first group. They still had quickness about them but they had size.”
Joyner praised Appleby who set the tone early for the Red Devils.
“Raheem Appleby, this is his team,” Joyner said. “You’ve got other guys who are stepping up in there. Xavier Huskey, Dustin House stepping up in there. I thought we got some good play off our posts tonight. De’shjon Penn came in there and played solid in the middle, solid defensively.”
Jacksonville has thrived since the end of football season, when it welcomed seven players from the Red Devils’ playoff team.
“We’re getting our depth ready and our depth is getting a little bit better,” Joyner said. “Those guys are getting their wheels. Our timing is a little bit better. We’re still kind of slow on rotations on the press. They just don’t have that feel right now.”
The fresh legs and extra bodies were too much for a Cabot team that played in the Mills Invitational the night before.
“That would have been a different game if they’d had fresh wheels,” Joyner said. “They got a little bit tired. You could see they were right there early. His first six or seven are pretty dang good but they got a little tired, a little leg heavy in that third quarter going into that fourth quarter.”
Because of the previous night’s action in the Mills tournament, which continues for Cabot today, Bridges had to rest Darin Jones and Davis as things were getting out of hand in the third quarter. Davis was Cabot’s leading scorer with 17 points.
“Darren and Kai are the only two who have had any varsity experience, period,” Bridges said. “We’re just now getting through that deer-in-the-headlights look.”
Tim Bellou added 10 points for Cabot.
Cabot plays in the consolation round of the Mills Tournament at 11:15 today. Jacksonville travels to the Conway tournament next week.
