LIBERAL, Mo. — The top-seeded Thomas Jefferson boys basketball team started on a 12-0 run and never looked back in an 82-44 win over Northeast Vernon County on Tuesday to open the Tony Dubray Classic.
“I thought we started the game really well,” Thomas Jefferson coach Chris Myers said. “We had that intensity that we talked about. Then we got into a pretty good lull there. It all starts with defense, and once we got passive on defense, it gave them a little life. When we are playing good defense and getting transition buckets, we are fun to watch.”
With the win, the Cavaliers move to 11-1 on the season with nine straight victories.
Thomas Jefferson wasted little time taking the momentum from the opening tip, scoring the first 12 points inside the first three minutes of action. Jay Ball started things off with an inside score. Caden Myers added six points. More importantly, the Cavaliers forced three turnovers in the opening minutes.
“We want to get out and play good defense,” Coach Myers said. “We want to get in the passing lanes, force some things to happen and then turn it into offense the other way. … We did a good job of that early, and got back to that to start the second half.”
Thomas Jefferson took a 23-8 lead into the second quarter after closing the first on a 9-2 spurt led by five points from Noah Hamlett.
The lead meandered around the 15-point mark for the entire second period, with the Cavaliers essentially putting the game out of reach in the third quarter.
Coming out of the half up 42-26, Thomas Jefferson opened with a 3-pointer from Drew Goodhope and a fast-break runout from Dhruv Gheewala to push the lead to more than 20 for the first time, 47-26. Gheewala added an old-fashioned three-point play and a driving score to give the Cavaliers a 53-29 lead on a 9-3 run to open the third.
“We weren’t overly pleased at halftime, honestly,” Coach Myers said. “We were pleased with having a lead, but we talked about wanting to turn up that defensive pressure. … I was really pleased with the way the boys responded. They played a good defensive third quarter to let us stretch it out.”
Thomas Jefferson continued their run, scoring the next nine straight points to push the lead to 30 points, 62-32, ending any chance for a Knights comeback with 2:30 left in the third period.
SCORING LEADERS
Caden Myers led Thomas Jefferson with a game-high 25 points, while Gheewala finished right behind with 21. Ball closed with 12 points, while Goodhope finished with nine.
Justin Culbertson led Northeast Vernon County with 21 points, 10 coming in the second quarter. Kylan Bachand finished with 14 in the loss.
UP NEXT
Thomas Jefferson battles the winner of (4) Liberal and (5) Sarcoxie at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
