The Hickman Kewpies like to pressure the ball with a full-court press and traps.
The Jefferson City Jays didn't panic, found the open man and shot past the Kewpies for a 77-57 victory Tuesday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
More often than not, the open player was Sterling DeSha, who scored a game-high 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
"He's struggled from the 3-point line, but when we look at his shot everything looks good," Jefferson City coach Mark Anderson said. "It's just he was in a slump and it was good to see some of them fall tonight."
DeSha's hot streak from deep began in the final seconds of the third quarter when Ben Folz drove toward the basket and delivered it to DeSha in the corner for a 3-pointer to make it 51-33 Jays.
DeSha drained another long-range shot a couple minutes into the fourth quarter and made his fourth 3-pointer a minute later from the corner again for a 63-42 lead.
DeSha wasn't the only one benefiting from the corner being open. Kaidyn Johnson was left there when Folz was being trapped on the opposite side of the floor. Folz was able to get the ball to Johnson for the 3-pointer as part of an 18-1 run that closed out the third quarter.
"The way that Hickman guards, that's a shot that's open," Anderson said. "If you hit them it looks really good."
Early on, the Jays went to the rim.
DeSha scored the game's first six points inside the paint before Folz pulled up for a 3-pointer on the wing for a 9-0 start.
But Hickman came right back and got to within 11-10 by the end of the first quarter.
Caillou Naylor cut to to 11-7 on a 3-pointer following a Jays turnover and Jarvis Jennings drove to the hoop with :29 on the clock to finish off the first-quarter scoring.
The Jays turned it over four times in the opening quarter, but only gave it away four more times the rest of the way.
"We settled down and we scored off of it, which is always good to actually convert against the press," Anderson said.
Johnson scored the first four points of the second quarter and Michael Appiah-Brefo was left open behind the press for a basket to get the lead back up to seven.
Hickman got back to within four a few minutes into the second quarter, but never made it a one-possession game.
Jennings, who led Hickman with 26 points on 9-0f-19 shooting, made the halftime score 25-19 with a layup in the final minute of the second quarter.
"I still think Ben did a pretty good job on him," Anderson said. "He's going to get his points. He's so tough and he wiggles his way into the lane, but I think we made his points come fairly tough."
Stopping the Kewpies from making 3s was the top priority for the Jays. Jennings made two from deep, but Hickman was 4-of-25 from beyond the arc.
"That was our No. 1 thing on the board was closeouts," Anderson said. "We wanted to make sure we had hands in the shooter's faces. When we played them at their place they had too many open shots."
Naylor was the other Kewpie to score in double figures with 14 points.
Brennan Jeffries made all 11 of his free throws and finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. DeSha led the Jays with 10 rebounds to record a double-double.
"Until the fourth quarter I thought we rebounded really well," Anderson said.
The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Jays (10-11), who will host Blair Oaks (17-5) on Friday.
"It was a win we needed," Anderson said.
Jefferson City won the JV game 59-31. Ian Jones scored 18 points and Chris Helming added 10 for Jefferson City.