DIVISION III JFK wins 52-40 behind Jackson

The freshman scored 23 points in the win over Struthers.
BY ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SALEM -- Warren John F. Kennedy's Desmar Jackson didn't feel left out when he was not introduced with the rest of the starters before Tuesday's Division III sectional tournament game against Struthers.
Instead, he made sure everyone remembered his name when the contest was over.
Starting in place of the injured TaShawn Walker, the freshman made a dazzling tournament debut, scoring 23 points, as the Eagles recovered from a lackluster start to pull out a 52-40 victory over Struthers.
Rallied team to win
With his squad trailing the Wildcats 20-17 at halftime, Jackson elevated every facet of his game in the third quarter, scoring 12 points, including three dunks. He had the first 10 points of Kennedy's points in the stanza.
"I had to step up my game because our leading scorer was out," said Jackson. "Coach [Shawn Pompelia] told me to pressure the ball more and just play ball. We just had to play defense more as a team and once we did that, we starting doing better. It ain't time to go home yet."
The Eagles fed off Jackson's strong second half with tighter defense and a better plan offensively. Struthers zone gave Kennedy fits in the first half, but after the intermission it was a different story.
"We were stagnant in the first half," said Pompelia. "I thought we were still sitting on the bus, to be honest with you. But in the second half we started to focus on pressuring the ball and that helped us get some steals and create some offense.
"To be successful, we need to get up and down the floor and penetrate to the hoop. The team rallied around Desmar's defensive pressure and we shot the ball better. I hope we learned a lesson from this game."
With Struthers hanging tough in the third quarter, Jackson started to take over. His third dunk of the third quarter put Kennedy ahead 30-29 with 52 seconds to go. Stephan Flannigan canned a 3-pointer at the quarter buzzer to pad the lead to 33-29.
Flannigan connected from downtown to start the fourth quarter and all of a sudden the Eagles owned their largest lead of the game at 36-29 with 7:15 remaining in the game.
Kennedy outscored Struthers 16-11 the rest of the way to secure the win and a trip to Friday's sectional final against Waterloo at 6:30 p.m.
The Eagles will focus on Waterloo sharpshooter Eric Schiele, who leads the state in scoring at 42 points per game.
"He's a freak of nature," said Pompelia. "He can flat out shoot. I don't care where he is, you better be on him. If he comes out of the restroom you better be there because he'll put it up from there."
East Palestine 61, United 45
Tri-County League champion East Palestine utilized its inside-outside balance to outscore United 23-10 in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs advance to a sectional final contest against No. 2 seed Ursuline Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Junior Jake Harvey knocked down five 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a game-high 22 points. Despite no field goals in the second half, his outside threat allowed East Palestine to go inside.
Dan Hanolt (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Travis Foreman (11 points, 8 boards) combined for 30 points in the paint.
"We play the old-school inside-outside game," said East Palestine coach Tom Bingham. "We made some adjustments against their zone in the second half and that opened the inside game. I'm glad Harvey was hitting them early because no one else was scoring."
United cut East Palestine's advantage to 46-41 early in the fourth quarter, before the Bulldogs responded with a 15-4 jaunt to close the deal.
"We knew we were going to have to play a heavyweight in the second round," said Bingham about facing Ursuline next. "We're going to show up and come to play and whatever happens, happens.