Jefferson City won the tipoff and never looked back.
The Jays started on a 10-0 run to begin a dominant 83-39 win against the Warrensburg Tigers on Wednesday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Jordan Martin assisted Kendric Johnson for the first of his nine points, then Tripp Maassen drove for a layup high off the glass to put the Jays up 4-0 less than a minute in. Steven Samuels turned the first of his five steals into a layup for the first of his game-high 19 points, then Martin used a transition layup and Samuels turned an offensive rebound into a putback layup to create the Jays’ 10-0 margin with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
“We came out with a ton of intensity on the defensive end, which led to a lot of easy baskets for us,” Jefferson City coach Josh Buffington said.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard after a Jace Stanton free throw, but the Jays hit another six shots, while holding Warrensburg to one, to create a 24-3 lead after one quarter.
The Jays opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run after a Samuels right-wing 3 off a Judah Harris assist, one of his four, two Maassen free throws and a Johnson steal-turned-layup, building Jefferson City’s lead to 31-3 with 6:44 left before halftime.
The lead continued to grow as Jefferson City shot 20-for-38 in the first half to build a 49-15 lead at halftime.
“We like early offense, so as much as we could we were getting it off the rim or out of the net even and pushing the ball down the floor and kicking ahead,” Buffington said. “When we did have an offensive possession where we needed to be a little more patient, we were doing a good job of seeing both sides and playing inside out off our bigs.”
The Tigers started the third quarter fast on the strength of five consecutive points from Mason Wyatt, who led Warrensburg with 10, but the Jays maintained their advantage as Johnson dished two of his five assists to Cole Heller for a layup and Samuels for a left-corner 3.
Jefferson City used another 8-1 run in the middle of the third quarter to create a running clock in the fourth, entering the final eight minutes with a 74-30 advantage.
“I thought we played extremely well,” Buffington said. “… I think a lot of their struggles were due to our guys being prepared and ready to play.”
The Jays and Tigers tied the final quarter with nine points each to create the final margin.
Samuels filled the box score for the Jays with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting, six rebounds and five steals, while Martin ended with 14 points and four rebounds on a perfect 5-for-5 night shooting.
Harris added 12 points, four assists and four steals, while Nelson Shinkle had six points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Johnson totaled nine points to give with five assists, while Heller had six points and six boards.
“They know how to respond to an upset coach Buffington,” Buffington said with a laugh. “Coming off two tough losses, two tough practices, the last four or five days for these guys have not been easy. They responded and we had some fun tonight.”
Jefferson City shot 33-of-58 (56.9 percent) overall, 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from 3 and 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) at the free throw line. The Jays outrebounded the Tigers 33-17 and forced 20 total turnovers with 15 steals, while blocking seven shots as a team.
“Our rotations were fast and we were staying on our feet,” Buffington said. “When we had a chance to trap them, we were trapping them in good spots and not letting them out of it. … When they did get to what appeared to be an easy look, we didn’t quit on any plays defensively. We were just able to keep a lot of pressure on them and they were hearing our footsteps most of the night.”
The Jays (3-2) will hit the road to play Ewing Marion Kauffman at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Warrensburg (0-2) will play in the Missouri River Valley Conference Tournament starting Tuesday.