Paris defeats Apaches at Wagstaff
Box Score:
After winning seven of eight games, the rigors of Region XIV basketball is taking a big of a toll on the young Apaches.
After taking a first-half lead, Tyler Junior College succumbed to a Paris Junior College rally, 80-68, on Saturday in a conference basketball game at Wagstaff Gymnasium.
The Apaches have lost three consecutive games to fall to 14-8 overall and 6-6 in Region XIV. The Dragons improve to 15-7 and 7-4.
TJC led 36-31 at halftime, half where the Tribe committed just four turnovers. The second half was a different story as PJC scored the first seven points to take the lead and the momentum.
A big difference was in 3-point shooting where the Dragons were 10 of 19, while the Apaches were 0 of 12.
Also, TJC had 10 turnovers in the second half.
"We a couple of big turnovers late after we had made a big run," Tyler Coach Mike Marquis said. "We had them on the ropes and just didn't get the play made. But they're young and the kids are going to make some mistakes. It wasn't because of lack of effort.
"I thought we had some guys ready to play and some guys where the minutes played are starting to catch up with them. That happens at this level. Paris has a good team. They shot the ball when they needed to. That's a pretty big disparity at the three-point line. We are not defending as well as we did when we first got back from Christmas. We have a bye coming up. We have a tough game coming up Wednesday against Panola, but hopefully with the bye we will get our legs back and hopefully that will help us."
Brandon Walker, a freshman from Lufkin, and Dariyus Woodson, a sophomore from Baytown, led the Apaches with 17 points apiece. JJ Louden, a sophomore transfer from Weber State, added 11 points.
Others scoring for TJC were Hudson Anderson (8), Jonah Nesmith (6), BJ Hooper Jr. (3), Sammon Johnson (2), Jacyn Jones-Taylor (2) and Jermontae Hill (2).
Hill, who fouled out, led in rebounds with eight, followed by Louden (6), Walker (6), Anderson (5), Nesmith (4) and Woodson (4).
Louden had five steals and Walker had three blocks.
Caleb Jones, a sophomore guard from Duncanville, led Paris with 20 points with Damondre McKnight and Elijah Easter hitting 15 points each. Kordrick Turner added 11 and he was followed by Morris Williams (9), Oluwafemi Olanyan (6) and Peyton Gusters (2).
Jones hit four 3-pointers. McKnight had three treys with one each by Williams, Easter and Olanyan.
Turner had 10 rebounds, followed by Gusters (6), Jones (4) and Olanyan (4).
The Apaches were 22 of 28 at the free throw line with Walker 7 of 7 while Woodson (3 of 3) and Anderson (2 of 2) were also perfect at the line.
The Dragons were 18 of 23 at the charity stripe.
Other men's results on Saturday: Kilgore 81, Navarro 70; Blinn 84, Angelina 66; Jacksonville 107, Lamar State-Port Arthur 102; Trinity Valley 89, Bossier Parish 68; and Lee 78, Coastal Bend 64.
Women's results on Saturday: Angelina 77, Panola 60; Kilgore 75, Blinn 74; Coastal Bend 101, Paris 93; and Trinity Valley 102, Jacksonville 25.
The Apaches return to play on Wednesday, traveling to Carthage to meet the Panola College Ponies in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Arthur Johnson Gymnasium.
Paris is scheduled to host Trinity Valley at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Apache Ladies had a bye on Saturday and are slated to play on Wednesday at Kilgore College. Tipoff at Masters Gymnasium is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
SMOKE SIGNALS: At halftime, the TJC mini-cheerleaders performed as well as the internationally famous Apache Belles.