Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Curley Wolves; Blue Jays Rule (cont)

he Jays had pummelled their opposition from October through February, working their way through the regular season, capturing the 7-A South conference title and taking regionals on their way to state.

The Jays eliminated team after team, moving relentlessly toward a showdown with Crawfordsville in the state overall finals.

The game was played in the Pine Bluff Convention Center to a capacity crowd that got its money's worth.

For the first two periods, the squads battled as true warriors do. Neither asking for, nor giving quarter.

The third quarter, however, proved to be pivotal as the Jays made some costly mental mistakes and turnovers. The Tigers took full advantage of the miscues and built a 17-point lead in the period.

But Nevada didn't reach the finals by giving up and folding like a cheap tent. The Jays reputation was for fighting and clawing for every possible point and never, ever, saying die.

The Jays battled back. They had the opportunity to tie the contest in the final period, but were unable to convert on the front end of a one-and-one from the stripe and missed a layup.

This allowed the Tigers to post a 67-63 win in the finals.