The J.Z. George Jaguars captured their fourth victory of the season last week as they defeated Winona 66-61 in the Winona invitational Basketball Tournament.
The Jaguars entered the week with a 4-7 record. Also in tournament action, J.Z. George lost a 70-50 decision to Eupora and 63-42 to Montgomery County.
“It was a good win for us,” Coach Jonathan Childs said. “We had a good crowd and they really got behind us. Our guys played hard.”
It was the second time this year that the Jaguars have beaten Winona. They took a 60-35 win over the Tigers in the J.Z. George tournament.
Winona went up 22-16 after the first quarter. The Jaguars outscored Winona 15-13 in the second quarter and trailed 37-31 at the half. J.Z. George outscored Winona 21-17 in the third quarter and cut its lead to one – 52-51 – heading into the final quarter. J.Z. George outscored Winona 15-9 in the final stanza to claim the win.
Malik Branch led with 18 points while Chris Givens added 13.
Eupora took control of its game with J.Z. George in the first half as it went up 37-18 at the half. Branch led with 17 while Givens added 11.
Montgomery County kept up a steady attack as it defeated the Jaguars. Montgomery County led 32-21 at the half, and outscored the Jaguars 31-21 in the second half. Kendrick Glover led with nine points.
Lady Jaguars
The J.Z. George girls are trying to overcome some injuries at this point of the season. They lost all three of their games in the Winona Tournament, falling 55-32 to Montgomery County; 67-24 to Winona; and, 43-18 to Eupora.
Against Montgomery County, Tashanda Fleming scored 13 points and Ashanti Lee scored 10. Fleming scored 17 points against Winona and eight points against Eupora. Allyson Anderson scored four points in the Eupora game.
J.Z. George will be back in action Friday when the Jaguars visit Humphreys County. They will be playing in the East Webster Tournament Dec. 28-30.
