Hickman holds off Jefferson City

Isaac Roling of the Jays guards Hickman's Grant Beasley during Thursday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Isaac Roling of the Jays guards Hickman's Grant Beasley during Thursday night's game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

O.G. Anunoby gave the Jefferson City Jays a much-needed spark down the stretch.

But the Jays couldn't complete the late comeback, and Hickman senior Jimmy Whitt played a large role in that.

Whitt sank a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to give the Kewpies a four-point lead before recording a steal on the final play of the game as Hickman claimed a 51-49 win against Jefferson City on Thursday night at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"I thought we played hard," Anunoby said. "We just made a couple of mental errors."

Anunoby, an Indiana University signee, scored a game-high 22 points while Whitt, an Arkansas signee, finished with 21 to lead the Kewpies.

"That's two really talented guys going at it," Jefferson City head coach Blair Thompson said. "They know each other really well, so you know it's a little bit personal for them. I thought they both competed at a very, very high level. Both gave their teams chances to win.

"Ultimately, Hickman did win, but O.G. came up with some big plays at the end to give us a little bit of life."

With the Jays (3-3) trailing by seven with 1:36 to play, Anunoby put back a dunk after a missed free throw, then converted on a three-point play 15 seconds later to make it a two-point game with 1:15 remaining.

"I was just telling myself to win the game," Anunoby said.

Hickman (8-1) turned it over on the next possession and Jefferson City missed its chance at tying the game with a jumper, but the Jays secured the deadball rebound with 40 seconds left.

Jefferson City didn't capitalize on its opportunity. The Jays committed a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play to give the Kewpies control.

"That's a play we've run over and over and over again," Thompson said. "Sometimes, that happens. You put the situation in place, and we just didn't execute. It was there, we just missed it. That's the bottom line. We needed that."

Whitt sank two free throws to make it a four-point game, but Anunoby kept the Jays' hopes alive by driving the length of the court and laying one in with 7.9 seconds left.

Hickman missed its first free-throw attempt in a bonus situation with four seconds remaining and Jefferson City recovered the rebound, but Whitt stole the outlet pass to give Hickman the win.

"That's Jimmy Whitt making a good play," Thompson said. "We had to push it. You don't have a lot of time to look around. Whitt just made a good play. For us to advance the ball in three seconds and get a good look, it would have taken something special."

Seth Stegeman scored eight points, while Jacob Gourley added five for the Jays, who were 22-of-49 from the field and just 2-of-5 from the free-throw line.

"We didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter as a team tonight," Thompson said. "For us to be really, really dangerous, we're going to have to get some more of that."

Jefferson City, which fell to Hickman last year in a district title game, claimed a 29-28 rebounding advantage, but the Jays committed 16 turnovers.

"I thought we rebounded better than we had all year, and that's a pretty athletic team with some decent size in there," Thompson said. "That gave us a chance, even with some turnovers - some careless turnovers that cost us."

Hickman sophomore Thomas Dutton finished with a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Devon Crum added eight points to help the Kewpies on offense. Hickman was 18-of-47 from the field and 11-of-19 from the charity stripe.

The Kewpies, who were averaging 78.1 points coming into the contest, led 21-18 after the first quarter and took a 29-24 advantage into the break.

Jefferson City pulled within two after a jumper by Zach Brooks with 2:07 left in the third and Anunoby tied the game at 36 to open up the fourth quarter, but the Jays could never get over the hump.

"We had a couple of cracks at a few layups that could have tied it or (put us ahead) through the middle of the third and early in the fourth," Thompson said. "We just couldn't capitalize."

Jefferson City returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27 in the opening round of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic against Raytown South at Fleming Fieldhouse. The Jays are hoping to gain something from the close loss, their third straight.

"We'll be in these types of games several more times throughout the year," Thompson said. "I was very proud of the effort. I thought both teams played really hard tonight. I just told our guys I couldn't ask them to play any harder than what they did."

In the JV game, Chuck Cooper scored 12 points to lead the Jays to a 50-39 win against Hickman. Jefferson City is now 2-4 on the year.