Six Flags may be the closest amusement park to Statesboro, but Friday night there was a roller coaster ride in Brooklet. The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets hosted Benedictine in a game that saw plenty of ups and downs for both teams before the Jackets were finally able to hold on to win by a final score of 72-69.
“We turned the ball over too much, but our guys were really able to keep their composure when we needed them to,” said Southeast Bulloch coach John Page. “I’m proud of our guys to show some character from fighting back when we were down by 10, and coming back to win.”
The game started with the Cadets jumping out to an 8-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets would then go on a 13-0 run, keyed by a Ryan Swanson steal, and layup and a three pointer by Janard Mike to take a 17-10 lead. Southeast would lead 23-17 at the end of the first.
In the second quarter the game went back and forth, with the Cadets cutting the lead to 25-23 on a couple of steals and layups by Rico Powers. The Jackets held tough and maintained a 33-29 when the halftime buzzer sounded..
The Cadets roared out of the gates in the third quarter, taking advantage of multiple Yellow Jacket turnovers. Benedictine tied the game on a Powers layup, Swanson hit two straight layups to give the Jackets a four point lead, but the Cadets then went on a 16-6 run to grab a 52-44 lead after three quarters of play.
In the fourth the Jackets started chipping away at the Cadets lead. Back to back baskets and fouls by Khrustian Clark and Swanson cut the lead to five. Clark added a three pointer to get the Jackets within four with 4;37 left in the game.
Tyler Bailey cut the lead to two on a layup, and then tied the game 63-63 with a pair of free throws with 1:40 to go. A Clark three pointer with 1:07 to go gave the Jackets a 66-65 lead, their first lead since early in the third quarter. A Swanson layup with less than :30 gave Southeast Bulloch a five point lead, and helped seal the victory.
“I think the guys are buying into what we are trying to do,” Page said. “It’s going to be a process, but hopefully winning a few games like this early will give us some momentum we will need in a long season.”
Clark led the Jackets with 20 points, Swanson added 14, and Bailey had 12. Powers led Benedictine with 21 points.
The Jackets improve to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in region play. Up next, Southeast Bulloch travels to Windsor Forest Tuesday.
