Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Blue Jays Capture Genoa Tournament Saturday

Nevada's senior boys captured the Genoa Central Tournament Saturday with an 80-72 win over Bradley.

In order to make a date with Bradley, however, the Bluejays first had to dispatch Spring Hill and host team Geonoa.

The Jays opened play in the tourney by absolutely destroying Spring Hill 91-39 in the opening round.

Nevada was hot from downtown as the team connected on seven three-pointers in the game. They also shot well from the free-throw line, as they netted eight in 12 attempts.

The game opened, though, with the Jays behind as Spring Hill led 21-15.

Glyndon Franklin, Jay coach, fired his team up for the second quarter, however, and the team responded by putting 22 points on the boards, while the defense shut the Bears down. At the half, the Jays held a 37-24 lead.

The Nevada quintet did not let up in the second half, as the Jays outscored the Bears 23-8 and led 60-32 at the end of three.

Tavoris Blakely led the Jays with 17 in the game. Joseph Young poured in 12, while Reginald Reed canned 11. Lamarcus Page and Mike Lowe each added 10.

Justin Fisher paced the Bears with nine points, all coming in the first quarter, and all three pointers. Frankie Powell, Brad Townsend and Mike Collins scored six each in the contest.

The Bears shot well from the free throw line, nailing four of eight.

The Jays had a tougher time with Genoa, but pulled off a 70-67 victory.

Nevada opened the contest this time with a 21-17 lead at the end of one, and took a 36-26 lead to the lockers at the half. Genoa fought back in the third quarter, cutting the lead to a 54-46 margin as the buzzer sounded ending the final period.

Young led the Jays with 19 points in the contest, with Reed scorching the nets for an additional 17. Blakely canned 14 in the win, while Page added 10 more.

The Jays connected on 10 of 17 free throw attempts, and added four three-pointers in the contest.

Michael Wadsworth led all scorers with 26, with Cody Brent sending 13 through the nylon. Thomas Green scored 10.

The Dragons were hot from outside as they canned 10 three-pointers in the contest. They also hit 10 of 23 free throw attempts in the loss.

Nevada's second meeting with a Bear team ended up with the same results, only this time it was in the finals and the team was Bradley. The Jays posted an 80-72 win for the title.

The two squads fought tooth and nail in the first eight minutes, with the Jays taking a 17-16 lead into the second quarter. The Jays put a little daylight between themselves and the Bears as they led 37-28 at the break. Nevada widened the gap in the third quarter as the led 61-43 heading into the final eight minutes.

Page led all scorers in the contest as he scorched the nets for 22 points, including six of nine from the stripe. Young followed with 13, including a pair of three-pointers, while Blakely netted 12.

The Jays swished five long-range bombs, while also connecting of 21 of 40 free throws in a foul-plagued game.

Artis Edwards and Tony Watson paced Bradley with 19 each. Walter Brown added 15 in the loss.

The Bears sent six hoops in from three-point land, while shooting less than 50 percent from the line as they hit 14 of 32.