By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Jacksonville Red Devils withstood a steady salvo of three pointers raining down inside the Devils’ Den Friday night, holding back a charging brood of Bruins and beating Pulaski Academy 66-64 to take a two-game lead in the 5A-Central standings.
Jacksonville couldn’t get the lid off the basket in the early going, missing their first 10 shot attempts and failing to score a field goal for more than half the opening frame. The Red Devil defense kept it close until the offense came along. Tedrick Wolfe finally scored on a short turnaround jumper with 3:45 on the clock to make it 7-5.
The Bruins took a 17-14 lead into the second frame, and Jacksonville began to dominate. After the lead grew to 24-18, the Red Devils closed the half with a 19-3 run to take a 37-27 lead into intermission. Jacksonville gave up only one basket over the final 6:13 of the second quarter and the offense scored on the inside and outside. Sergio Berkley hit two three pointers and scored eight points, while post players Wolfe and Kanaan Jackson scored four points each.
Jacksonville threatened to run away in the third quarter, starting the period with an 8-2 run and taking a 45-29 lead on another Berkley three pointer with 5:50 on the clock.
Bruin coach Roger Franks called timeout. After the break, the Bruins’ strategy for coming back was clear – launch from deep.
And it almost worked. The Bruins scored eight-straight points in only 1:25 out of the timeout. Jacksonville slowed the onslaught, but PA still closed to within 50-45 by the end of the third quarter.
Jacksonville maintained that five-point lead and tried to slow the game down and run the clock with about five minutes left in the game. But Lawson Korita picked off a lazy pass at the top of the key and dunked it at the other end to make it 55-52 with 4:45 remaining.
Berkley scored at the other end for Jacksonville, and Korita hit his second three pointer of the quarter to make it 57-55 with 3:55 left. Berkley wasted no time scoring again with 3:40 on the clock to make it 59-55, and both teams hit a wall offensively for the next couple of minutes.
Jacksonville’s Damarion Freeman blocked a Korita three-point attempt and Jackson got the rebound.
Jacksonville coach Vic Joyner called timeout, but the Red Devils failed to score on the possession. Freeman then blocked Korita again and got the rebound. But again Jacksonville failed to score.
In a serious case of deja vu, Freeman blocked another Korita shot, this one he sent out of bounds along the Bruin bench. But the inbound pass went to Korita far behind the three-point line. The super sophomore launched it from about 25 feet and drained it, making the score 59-58 with 2:04 left in the game.
Devin Campbell scored for Jacksonville at the other end and Franks called his last timeout with 1:28 remaining. Jacksonville got a stop when Marcus Wallace missed and Campbell got the rebound.
Berkley hit 1 of 2 free throws on the ensuing possession. Jacksonville fouled PA leading by four, and Bruin guard Chase Snider missed the front end of a one-and-one. Jackson missed a dunk at the other end, and Wallace got the long rebound on a runout. He hit a layup and was fouled. He added the free throw to make it 62-61 with 25 seconds left.
From that point, Jacksonville needed to make free throws and did so. Sophomore LaQuawn Smith calmly hit both ends of a one-and-one with 19 seconds remaining.
Wallace missed a long three at the other end, but Bruin post player Zack Fryxell got a rare offensive rebound for PA and was fouled. But he also missed the front end of a one-and-one and Wolfe got the rebound. Wolfe hit both of his foul shots with six seconds left, and Korita added a three pointer at the buzzer to set the final margin.
Joyner had a simple explanation for Pulaski Academy’s comeback.
“We got lazy and we didn’t close out on the shooters like we did in the first half,” said Joyner. “They’re going to take their shots. But in the first half we were closing out and getting a hand in their face and making it difficult. In the second half, we weren’t getting there and giving them wide open looks.”
Pulaski Academy took 32 three-point shots, making 12. The Bruins shot 19 in the second half. Korita made just 1 of 6 attempts in the first half, but hit 6 of 9 in the second half. He finished with a game-high 29 points. Wallace added 17 for the Bruins.
Berkley led Jacksonville with 22 points. Campbell added 13 and Wolfe had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Red Devils won the rebounding battle 39-20.
The Bruins had made all five of its free-throw attempts until the two front-end misses in the final minute. They finished 5 of 7 from the line. Jacksonville hit 18 of 22, including 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter.
