Jefferson City boys stumble against undefeated Kirkwood

Jefferson City’s Jordan Martin handles the ball against Kirkwood’s Jack Kocher during Saturday’s game in the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse. (Josh Cobb/News Tribune)
Jefferson City’s Jordan Martin handles the ball against Kirkwood’s Jack Kocher during Saturday’s game in the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse. (Josh Cobb/News Tribune)

The Jefferson City Jays have forced turnovers and run by teams all season.

On Saturday, the Kirkwood Pioneers gave the Jays some of their own medicine.

Class 6 No. 7 Kirkwood outran Jefferson City for a 69-58 win, staying undefeated in the process, during the fifth game of the Central Bank Shootout at Rackers Fieldhouse.

“It’s good experience for us to go against that athleticism and that pressure,” Jefferson City coach Josh Buffington said. “We knew the biggest key coming in was jersey recognition, throwing to guys in the white jerseys. We didn’t quite do that and it was pretty spread out, the turnovers.”

Kirkwood got started early, sprinting out to a 9-3 lead at the 3:12 mark of the first quarter with seven points coming from Christian Hughes, who eventually led the game with 22.

Jefferson City cut the lead with a 6-2 run on two Jordan Martin free throws, a Martin layup off a Nelson Shinkle assist and a Steven Samuels drive for a layup off a Kendric Johnson assist.

Hughes continued to power the Pioneer offense though, scoring nine of the team’s 13 first-quarter points and sending Kirkwood into the first break leading 13-10.

“I thought our guys just played side-to-side too much,” Buffington said. “Our decision-making was a second too slow before we’d kick it. I don’t think we played inside-out well enough off the post. Just seemed like we were a step slow and a lot of that was because of Kirkwood, but we have to take ownership of that, too. “

Kirkwood caused issues for Jefferson City’s offense early in the second quarter, forcing three turnovers in the first four minutes while holding the Jays scoreless until a Martin free throw with 4:32 left. In that time, the Pioneers’ offense was moving, extending their lead to 21-10 before Martin’s attempt at the line.

Jefferson City got within seven points at 23-16 after Martin kicked out a pass to Samuels for a left-wing 3 with 3:26 remaining, and again at 27-20 after Martin drove for a layup with 2:44 left. But the Pioneers kept pushing, scoring six of the final eight points to take a 36-24 lead into halftime. While the 3s hadn’t been falling for Kirkwood in the first quarter, Evan Simon connected on three consecutive attempts from deep to lead the Pioneers in the second quarter. Jefferson City hit only one 3 in the first half.

“They did a really good job tonight of getting us off our spots and forcing us to make plays rather than just execute at times,” Buffington said.

The 3s continued to fall for the Pioneers early in the third, with Simon adding his fourth, for his 12 total points, and Javaris Moye connecting from the top of the key for three of his 12 points, to put the Pioneers ahead 42-26 with 6:52 left in the third.

Jefferson City attempted to chip away, but could never get back within 10 during the third quarter as Kirkwood scored five of the final six points of the quarter to go into the fourth with a 50-35 lead.

The Jays had their best offensive quarter in the fourth, scoring 23 points and shooting 8-of-16 from the floor, but missed free throws kept Jefferson City from capitalizing on opportunities, as it shot just 5-of-10 at the line in the final eight minutes.

The Pioneers (19-0) kept the Jays from closing the gap, missing only one shot attempt in the final period and scoring 19 points along the way.

“It was a tough challenge for us, they’re undefeated for a reason,” Buffington said. “That’s a good basketball team. They’re extremely physical, probably the most physical team we’ve played yet.”

Along with his 22 points, Hughes had a co-team-high four assists, a game-high four steals and five rebounds. Moye totaled a team-high seven rebounds to go with 12 points, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

Martin led Jefferson City with 21 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while dishing out three assists. Samuels added 19 points and three rebounds for Jefferson City, while Heller had eight points and five boards and Tripp Maassen had five rebounds.

Jefferson City shot 20-of-45 (44.4 percent) from the field, 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) from 3 and 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) at the line. Kirkwood connected on 22-of-38 (57.9 percent) of its tries from the field, 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from 3 and 17-of-20 (85 percent) at the free-throw line. Kirkwood forced 18 turnovers, while Jefferson City caused 16.

Jefferson City (13-6), which is receiving votes in the Class 5 state rankings, returns to the court for a Central Missouri Activities Conference contest Tuesday against Hickman at Fleming Fieldhouse.