Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

NEVADA BLUE JAYS

The Blue Jays had to come from behind in the semi-finals to beat Fouke, 57-41. The first quarter was a cold one for the Jays, when they missed around 80 or 85 percent of their shots.

The Blue Jays trailed 11-6 after one quarter, but led 24-21 at halftime. They led 38-29 going into the final period.

Tavoris Blakely, who was cold in the first half, began the second half with three three-pointers. He was the game's leading scorer with 25 points.

Reginal Reed scored 13 points for the Jays and Joseph Young added 10 points.

Cory Easley scored 14 points for the losers.

Nevada made 10 of 17 free shots while Fouke hit 11 of 13 from the stripe.

Friday night against Bradley in the finals the Blue Jays never trailed. They jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Bears ever found the basket. The Jays won it, 79-70.

This night Blakely had a hot handle on the ball as he blasted three treys in the first half and three in the second. He had a total of 24 points for the Jays. He had a perfect 4 of 4 from the line.

Lamarcus Page followed with 16 points, and Young and Reed finished with 15 points apiece for Nevada.

Tony Watson scored 19 points for the Bears, hitting four from the three-point range.

Others scoring for Bradley were Walter Brown and Cawaski Stewart with 18 points.

Nevada led 18-9 after one period, 36-30 at halftime and 59-52 after three quarters.

The two teams had met twice during the regular season. Bradley won both of those outings. Nevada is now 25-8 overall.

This victory moves the Blue Jays into the winners' bracket of the Class A State Regional Tournament at Bearden. They are to play Thursday afternoon at 5:30 in the quarter-finals. They will meet the winner of Tuesday's game between the runner-up of 7A North and the third place team of 7A East.

The semi-finals will be played Friday night at 8:30. Saturday's action will begin with the finals of the girls' bracket at 7:00. The boys' finals will begin around 8:30.