By BEN COWENS
Special to The Leader
JONESBORO — Control can be a fickle thing.
Jonesboro faltered in the third quarter and Jacksonville never looked back in a 53-43 victory at Don Riggs Hurricane Gym.
For the Red Devils it was a precious road victory in the cutthroat 7A/6A-East Conference. For Jonesboro it was a regrettable performance, especially considering the 10-point lead the Hurricane held at halftime.
The Jonesboro girls had a similar meltdown in the second half, but recovered for a 43-39 victory.
Jacksonville’s boys scored the first six points of the third quarter and outscored the Hurricane 33-13 in the second half.
“I coached a bad game tonight,” Jonesboro coach Wes Swift said. “They came out in the third quarter, and I should have used a timeout and got our guys back focused and I did not do it. I thought that hurt us.
“The second half we came out with no energy. We totally lost focus and I didn’t do a good job — in fact, I didn’t do any job — of getting us back. We were bad as a team tonight.”
Jacksonville limited Jonesboro (13-4, 2-2) to 25 percent shooting in the second half. Jayln McBride led Jonesboro with 13 points and was the only Hurricane player to score more than 10.
The Red Devils (13-1, 2-1) played a sagging zone to offset the inside presence of the Hurricane’s Colby Inboden and Ayo Ojo. Ojo, the team’s 6-7 post, scored seven points and had eight rebounds.
Jacksonville took its chances with Jonesboro’s guards on the outside and the gamble paid off as the Hurricane went 2 for 12 on three-pointers in the second half.
“I thought when we went to zone, it kind of stifled them a little bit,” Jacksonville coach Victor Joyner said.
“Fortunately they missed some outside shots. That’s the only thing that saved us. They just missed some wide-open outside shots and I know they’re better shooters than that.”
Jacksonville forced five third-quarter turnovers. Two of those led directly to baskets on an 8-0 run that closed the deficit to 30-28 with four minutes left in the quarter.
McBride followed with a three-pointer to briefly bump the lead to five, but it would be the Hurricane’s only basket of the quarter as Jacksonville outscored Jonesboro 14-3.
“I thought once they saw the ball go through the hole a few times and it wasn’t so hard on both ends it helped,” Joyner said. “If both ends are hard and you feel totally under pressure all the time, then you press.
“We were able to get a couple of buckets and some free throws, relieve that pressure and put pressure on them. It changed the dynamic.”
Jacksonville took a 34-33 lead into the final quarter after a pair of free throws from Justin McCleary.
Ojo scored on a putback early in the fourth to give Jonesboro one final lead, but a 13-2 Jacksonville run over the next five minutes put the game away.
The Lady Red Devils came back from an 18-point deficit to tie the game twice in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Hurricane responded just in time.
A sagging defense kept Jacksonville sophomore Jessica Jackson out of the lane in the final minutes and forced others to take unsuccessful jump shots.
Jacksonville’s Nicole Bennett scored a team-high 17 points and had nine in the final 3:04 of the second quarter to help Jacksonville pull to within 24-16.
