Boys play is down and up

It was an up-and-down weekend Friday and Saturday for the Jeff Davis boys basketball team as the Jackets played poorly Friday, losing 83-43 to Fitzgerald in Fitzgerald, and then putting together a strong performance Saturday against visiting Thomasville to take a 57-50 win.
The Jackets’ Saturday night performance was a complete turnaround from their play only 8 days earlier when they lost to Thomasville by 23 points in Thomasville. Saturday night, the Bulldogs built an early lead but Kolby Jarrell led a second quarter surge that propelled the Jackets to a 25-25 halftime tie.
In the 3rd quarter, J.J. Benjamin and J.T. Bryant picked up the Jeff Davis scoring and A.J. Sampson began swatting away Bulldog inside shots as the Jackets built a 41-34 lead going into the final stanza. Thomasville chipped away at the lead in the fourth quarter but Bryant and Mark Durden hit key buckets to hold the visitors at bay.
Bryant led four Jackets in double digits with 14 points. Benjamin had 13, Sampson and Durden 11 each and Jarrell 8 as Coach Thomas McAboy kept his starters in most of the game.
Monte Colvin, who scored 29 against the Jackets in the Bulldogs’ big win in Thomasville, was held to only 13 points Saturday to lead Thomasville.
Friday night in Fitzgerald, the Yellow Jackets were barely present in the early going and Coach McAboy pulled his starters in frustration in the opening quarter. The damage was already done, however, as the Purple Hurricanes led 35-6 when the 1st quarter came to an end.
After trailing 54-16 at halftime, the Jackets played a little better in the second half but still lost by 40 points.
Freshman Amare Burney was the only Jacket in double figures with 11 points. Bryant had 8, Sampson and Durden 6 apiece, Jaron Cochran 5, Jarrell 4 and Benjamin 3.
Thirteen Hurricanes scored in the game led by Javeon Vickers with 19, Keylon Jenkins with 15 and Darryon Devine with 14.
Score by quarters:
JDHS 6 10 17 10 -43
FHS 35 19 17 12 -83

THS 13 12 9 16 -50
JDHS 6 19 16 16 -57