Flight Jayvee Road Win

Saturday the Flight boys traveled down I-85 to LaGrange for a rematch with tough Sound Doctrine Academy. The Jayvees had lost a close game in Atlanta, but came into the game playing well. Flight had suffered a down note when Conner arrived at the Friday afternoon practice on crutches, and his status for the game was uncertain. The game also started without big man Josh, so things didn’t look good for Flight.

Sound Doctrine started off by feeding the ball inside to their older and larger big men, but most all of their close shots failed to fall. This allowed Flight to stake an early 13 – 2 lead. Then Sound Doctrine hit four straight three-pointers, including three by the little guard nicknamed Peanut, and Sound Doctrine led 17 – 15 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter proved to be the crucial period of the game. Sound Doctrine’s shooting went even colder, as they only scored three points the entire quarter. They also fell deeper into foul trouble, particularly their Shaq look-alike center, who racked up three fouls in the first half.

Flight’s offense continued to run smoothly, and they grabbed their share of rebounds against their taller opponents. DJ tallied four first-half assists, and finished with five to go with his game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Flight led 32 – 20 at the half, holding a comfortable lead most of the second quarter. Josh finally showed up and took over for Holt, crashing the boards and adding an assist of his own. Max also saw extended PT in the second, grabbing a rebound and assist.

Sound Doctrine wasn’t able to make much headway in the third quarter. Holt had a nice blocked shot. Will played several minutes and grabbed two rebounds, and also made a nice strong baseline pass inside to Josh early in the fourth quarter. DJ and Conner ran the offense and worked minutes off the clock. Conner showed no effects from his hurt ankle, scoring 19 points to go with 4 rebounds and a steal. The third quarter ended with the score 39 – 29, an eight point Flight lead.

The big Sound Doctrine center committed a fourth foul and was pulled from the game, so they could better employ a full-court press. In the fourth quarter Flight had less and less success breaking the press, but Sound Doctrine continued to foul. Flight had struggled all year making foul shots, but connected on enough down the stretch to hold onto the lead. Josh and Kevin made key foul shots, and Conner especially found his stroke at the line. Flight won a satisfying 53 – 44 victory.

Josh played the second and fourth quarters and had 5 points and 10 rebounds, with an assist and steal. Holt played well inside in the first and third, scoring a basket, grabbing 3 boards and 4 steals. Kevin also played big inside, scoring 3 points and adding 5 boards, despite giving up lots in size.

Jonathan started and scored two points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 2 steals. Isaac contributed as well. Only Joel didn’t get in the game.