Hawklets down Jays 64-39 on Senior Night

Hudson Nilges of Jefferson City directs his teammates during Friday night's game against Rockhurst at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Hudson Nilges of Jefferson City directs his teammates during Friday night's game against Rockhurst at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Jefferson City Jays coach Mark Anderson knew what his team was up against when the Rockhurst Hawklets visited Fleming Fieldhouse on Friday.

Rockhurst starts two players 6-foot-4 or taller and brings two more off the bench that are at least 6-6. It wasn't a good matchup for the Jays, who start four guards and have one 6-7 big man.

"We just couldn't get anything going offensively because they guarded us and they were tough and they were in our way all the time and couldn't get anything easy," Anderson said following a 64-39 loss on Senior Night.

The Jays tried to offset the size difference with 3-pointers, but an 0-for-6 mark from deep in the first quarter helped lead to an 18-4 deficit.

Jays center DaMani Jarrett scored those four points. He made all of his shots Friday, going 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 at the line.

"It's the same kind of story," Anderson said. "We don't give him the ball enough. We just dug ourselves a hole."

Jefferson City started to climb out of the hole in the second quarter as Charlie Wehmeyer knocked down a pair of 3s and Ben Folz cut the deficit to 23-14 after a pair of free throws and a layup.

"We kind of held our own for a while," Anderson said.

Wehmeyer added a third 3-pointer in the third quarter for a team-high nine points.

"He's struggled from the 3-point line recently and it was nice to see him hit a couple," Anderson said.

It was 30-14 at halftime and Xavier Rhodes capped off a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the third quarter.

Second-chance buckets added up as well.

Rhodes got a tip-in for a 41-22 lead midway through the third quarter. Jack Murphy finished the third-quarter scoring with a bucket off an offensive rebound, giving the Hawklets a 47-28 lead.

Murphy had eight of Rockhurst's 37 rebounds. Jarrett grabbed five of the Jays' 22 boards.

"Everybody has to rebound and I don't think we did a very good job at that," Anderson said.

Jarrett scored eight points in his final game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

Jarrett, Wehmeyer, Jalen Sands, Garrett Parker and Jared Cooper were all honored prior to the game for Senior Night.

Tyer Nelson scored a game-high 14 points for Rockhurst. Rhodes scored 13 and Darrius Hughes, who had three dunks, scored 12 points.

Jefferson City will enter district play on a three-game losing streak. The top-seeded Jays (11-12) will face fourth-seeded Holt (12-12) at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Class 5 District 7 Tournament in Wentzville.

Battle (19-6) and Troy (16-9) will play in Monday's other semifinal with the winners playing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the championship game.

"They are disciplined, they run a lot of stuff," Anderson said of Holt. " If you look at our record it's misleading because if you look at the caliber of teams we've played and the losses we have, they are all to really good teams."

The Jays' JV ended the season with a 49-29 loss to Rockhurst.

Levi Jobe and Sterling DeSha scored nine and eight points, respectively, for Jefferson City (12-8).