It’s rare for a 1A district to have one team in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches’ top 10 in the state poll, but doubly unusual to have two. For the past two seasons Paducah and Jayton have not only been neckand-neck in District 15-1A, but also in the TABC state rankings.
So when the Dragons came calling on the Jaybirds Friday night, the JGISD gym was packed.
Pecos Smith and Tripp Scott scored 16 and 13 points respec tively, and Tye Scogin tossed in 10 to lead Jayton (20-5, 3-0 District 15-1A), which took control of the game with 17-5 lead in the first quarter and held off Paducah for the rest of the night.
Paducah, which trailed by 17 points at the end of the third quarter, began a late rally behind full-court defensive pressure, eventually cutting the lead to seven with a jumper from Mark Flemons with just under two minutes to play. But the Dragons never got any closer—falling victim to a combination of cold shooting down the stretch, three Jayton free throws and a jumper by Scott.
Jayton’s win stood in stark contrast to what happened at JHS last season, when Paducah roared back from two doubledigit deficits for a 45-43 win to claim the district title.
It showed how far the Jaybirds have come in one year, as described by Jayton coach Ryan Bleiker to Big Country Preps. “Last year, we were in the same situation,” he said. “We were up on Paducah by nine points going into the fourth quarter and we let it slip away. They made a run tonight and cut it to six or seven points, but we have an older team now with a bunch of seniors and juniors and they’ve played in lots of places and lots of big environments. They kept everything calm and they hit some big free throws down the stretch to help seal it away.”
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