Lions stay hot

JESSIEVILLE -- Another day, another dynamic performance for Jessieville's Alex Burleson.

The senior guard came out firing against visiting Glen Rose (8-9, 2-4) Thursday night, knocking down all six of his shot attempts from behind the arc in a 22-point first half effort. He finished with a game-high 28 points in Jessieville's 58-50 win.

"When he is making that shot, he's almost impossible to guard," Jessieville coach Jared White said. "He is a very underrated shooter and he does not take bad shots. He is just a very unselfish player. When his teammates make a play, he is their number one cheerleader. It just says a lot about his character."

Tightening their defense after surrendering 32 points in the first half, the Lions (15-3, 10-0) held Glen Rose to just five points in the fourth quarter. The Lions took a Class 3A-leading 13-game winning streak into Friday's matchup with Malvern at the Leopard Center.

"I was just proud that we were not at our best and we were still able to find a way to win," said White.

Despite a sizzling start from Burleson, Glen Rose held a slim 32-30 lead entering the third quarter, senior Noah Ellis and sophomore Brayden Lyons combining for 23 first-half points for the Beavers.

Burleson and Lyons each had four quick points to open the third quarter before someone else joined the scoring party. Scoreless in the first half, Jessieville junior forward Tyler Holloway closed the third period with 11 straight points, beating the buzzer with a deep 3-pointer to give the Lions a 47-45 advantage.

"He really stepped up tonight," White said. "I challenged a lot of the guys at halftime, and he answered the call. It didn't even have to do necessarily with scoring as much as what we are always capable of, which is playing as hard as we can and doing things right on the defensive end."

A 3-pointer by Glen Rose's Zane Hardage knotted the score at 48-48 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter before the Lions started to pull away.

Back from an ankle injury for his first game since Dec. 12, junior guard Braxton Shifflett buried a shot from behind the arc and scored five straight points to spark a 9-0 Jessieville run. After a basket by Lyons, Jessieville's Jacob Bearden converted on one of two shots from the free throw line to set the final margin.

"We moved some guys around and got some of our better lineups out there defensively," said White. "We had to abandon our zone (defense) tonight. We weren't as active as we have been, and I probably stayed in it too long in the first half. We more or less just tried to stay in front in the fourth quarter and make it hard on (Lyons)."

Burleson dropped 11 points in the opening quarter while Lyons scored seven points of his own, setting the stage for a back-and-forth first half. A layup from Lyons gave the Beavers an early 10-9 lead, but Burleson responded with two 3-pointers as Jessieville closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 17-10 lead.

Glen Rose's two scorers were better than Jessieville's one in the second quarter. Burleson stayed hot with 11 points in the period, but a layup by junior forward Chase Pedersen was Jessieville's only other score.

Ellis and Lyons combined for 15 points, while seniors Bryce Hill and Jarred Rodgers each scored three points to give the Beavers a 32-30 lead at the half.

Lyons finished with a team-high 20 points for Glen Rose while Hardage added 11 points. Bearden, Pedersen and Shifflett each scored five points for the Lions. Senior Bryan Morgan chipped in with four points.

Jessieville hosts Bismarck (8-10, 3-4) Monday and Fountain Lake (11-6, 3-2) Tuesday before traveling to Centerpoint (12-7, 5-4) Thursday night.

"The rest of the year, we are going to be getting teams' best effort, and it may not have been that way at the beginning of the year," White said. "Teams are wanting to knock us off and they are lining up at the door just to get a piece of us. The more they understand that, the more they've just got to lock in and play."

Sports on 01/20/2018

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