Anunoby's 3 keys Jays' win against Falcons

There's a reason why Indiana University is interested in O.G. Anunoby.

The Jefferson City senior scored a game-high 16 points and hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lead the Jays to a 29-26 win against Blair Oaks in a three-period game as part of Friday's Jamboree at Helias.

Blair Oaks took a 26-23 lead after Kory Franks hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left, but Anunoby, who signed a letter intent Wednesday to play for the Hoosiers, responded with trey to tie it with 27 seconds remaining.

The Falcons were called for a five-second violation with 15 seconds remaining, and Anunoby used a spinning, step-back fadeaway from behind the arc that went in as the buzzer sounded.

"That was a good shot, no doubt," Jefferson City head coach Blair Thompson said. "He's talented. I think we all know that and almost expect it to happen at this point. We're lucky we get to see that kind of stuff out of him on a daily basis."

Anunoby was the only player to score in double figures for the Jays, who were 12-of-28 (43 percent) from the field and 2-of-7 (28 percent) from the free-throw line against the Falcons.

Blair Oaks led 12-8 after the first quarter and took a 19-16 lead into the break before the Jays could mount a comeback in the final period.

Jefferson City, which finished 15-12 last season after suffering a 65-61 loss to Hickman in the Class 5 District 9 title game, didn't stop its winning ways there.

Anunoby finished with nine points - including two fast-break dunks - as the Jays cruised to 42-21 win against Fatima in their second game of the night.

A first-team all-state pick last season, Anunoby saw limited playing time against the Comets.

"When he's not on the floor, it takes away a safety net for the other guys," Thompson said. "I thought that was beneficial for us as well - just to have those guys try to execute without him on the floor."

Grant Wood had 11 points in Game 2 to lead the Jays.

"These things are good to get an early look of where you really are - from a conditioning standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, and just an overall ability to execute the things you've been working on," Thompson said. "We showed flashes of doing some things, but we consistently didn't put it all together tonight, nor did we expect to."