By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Jacksonville Red Devils took the first-place trophy at their own tournament and kept their perfect record intact with a defensively driven 41-34 victory over cross-town rival North Pulaski in the Red Devil Classic championship at the Devils Den on Wednesday.
Jacksonville (11-0) struggled with the Falcons’ zone defense in the second and third quarters after building a big lead. That allowed North Pulaski (4-7) to climb back and take the lead to start the second half.
But a 6-0 run by the Devils to start the fourth period was all it took to seize control of the momentum, as North Pulaski made just one field goal and didn’t score at all in the final 4:31.
“We’ve been busting zones up all year,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said. “Executing well against zones, and for some reason, they got real stagnant and stationary tonight against the zone. I don’t know if they were just tired after these three games, but it wasn’t that it slowed anything down, they just got in a 2-3 zone.”
Jacksonville senior guard Raheem Apppleby was named most valuable player of the tournament. Appleby finished Wednesday with 11 points, six of which came in the last six minutes.
It was a strong finish after a strong start, with a dreadful pair of scoreless quarters in between.
“His timing was a little bit off on his shot,” Joyner said. “I saw him shooting during warm-ups, and his timing was off a little bit. And Raheem is one of those real self-conscious kids. He had missed a few, and he said, ‘Coach, I ain’t shooting no more.’ I said, ‘No son, I don’t care if you go 1 for 30, if you’re open, you have to shoot it.’
“I thought he shot a couple of them too deep, but he normally makes those. So like I told him, if you can’t get something outside, take some and get it in the paint. And he did, he got it in the paint and got a couple of leaners, and got his timing back.”
Falcons senior forward Bryan Colson cut the score to 35-34 with a basket and free throw with 4:31 left to play. The game had gone without a hitch to that point, and then play was stopped twice because of a scoring issue and a possession question following a jump ball.
Once that was sorted out, the Red Devils went to work shutting down Colson, who came alive in the second quarter for North Pulaski and led the Falcons on a comeback run, scoring 11 of his 16 points in the second and third quarters.
“We went small on them and put Jamison Williams on him,” Joyner said. “And Jamison did a great job on him, because he’s just as quick as Colson and just as athletic. He wasn’t as big as Colson was, but kept him in front of him.”
Williams gave the capacity crowd an early adrenaline shot when he leaped through the lane and dunked over North Pulaski junior center Jeremiah Hollis for the first points of the game. That sparked a 14-2 run by the Red Devils in the first quarter, but a free throw by Williams and a basket by Justin McCleary were the only Jacksonville points in an unproductive second quarter.
In that time, the Falcons rallied behind the tandem of Colson and sophomore guard Dayshawn Watkins. Watkins started off the second period with a basket and free throw, and converted another pair of free throws with 5:10 left in the half to cut the Red Devils’ lead to 15-7.
The Falcons piled on more points with an 11-0 run that included a basket and free throw by Colson, two free throws by Braylon Spicer and an inside shot by Hollis with 1:27 left to give the Falcons their first lead at 16-15.
However, McCleary gave Jacksonville the final word in the half with a floater in the lane to make it 17-16.
James Aikens had a breakout game for Jacksonville with nine points, including a three-pointer with 4:31 left that gave the Red Devils a 35-31 lead.
Forward Tirrell Brown added six points and a game-high eight rebounds for Jacksonville, while McCleary and Dewayne Walker each scored five points.
Watkins had seven points for North Pulaski and Spicer had five.
