OLA -- No matter the sport, Maxpreps.com lists Fountain Lake vs. Jessieville as a "rivalry game," one that both teams alternately play to win and not to lose.
So intensely contested are rivalry games played that artistry often is lacking, which was the case Wednesday night in the basketball season's rubber game between the Cobras (23-5) and Lions (20-8). With both teams safely in next week's 3A-2 regional tournament at Perryville, local bragging rights were the main order of business between players who have competed against each other for years.
Fountain Lake, with a 44-33 victory in the 3A-4 district semifinals at Two Rivers, won the season series after the home team lost both regular-season matchups. The Cobras "played with kind of an edge," head coach Jake Dettmering said, in avenging a 59-54 Jessieville victory Jan. 14 at Irvin J. Bass Gymnasium.
Jessieville lost by a double-digit margin despite allowing fewer points against Fountain Lake for the second-straight game. "It's not like we played bad defense, giving up 44 points," said head coach Jared White, whose team lost, 57-41, to Fountain Lake Dec. 4 at Jessieville Sports Arena.
One looking for clues to the outcome had only to peek at the stat sheet, which White had ready for his team in the locker room afterward. Four of 26 3-point shooting, he said, wouldn't do against any team, especially not one with a 23-5 record before playing conference champion Booneville (25-2) in the district final Thursday night.
"We made our first three (Tyler Holloway) and it was like we decided to continue shooting the three," White said.
"We made one out of 15 (threes) in our first game with them and then made nine to their nine in the game that we won.
"We shot 26 threes and seven free throws, and still only gave up 44," a puzzled White said.
Fountain Lake succeeded in not letting Braxton Shifflett scorch the sky again after allowing 34 points to the Jessieville senior on the Cobras' home floor. Shifflett had 12 points Wednesday night, none in the last 11:35 after a three-point play pulled the Lions within 28-23.
Critically, Fountain Lake increased its lead from eight to 11 points before senior Joe Murphy, mainly responsible for guarding Shifflett, returned with four fouls and 3:36 to play.
Usually a prolific deep shooter, Shifflett tried to repeat his last-game magic against Fountain Lake with post-up moves and baseline drives. The Cobras were more prepared for No. 5's inside stuff this time.
"We competed better in the post and got better help against him inside," Dettmering said.
Said White, "We weren't patient enough to make them cover everything we can do. We didn't do a lot of things that got us here."
One of three Cobras scoring in double figures, senior Ahman Johnson had 10 points in the middle quarters. Seeing a game that others wish they could play, Johnson went to work inside on both ends after 3-point shooting by junior Colton McMullin and senior Jordan Mungle staked the Cobras to a 23-15 halftime lead.
Johnson's six third-quarter points showed a variety of skills, making it 28-20 with a backcourt steal and driving layup and 30-23 with remarkable body control on a twisting layup. After threes by McMullin and Mungle in the fourth quarter, Johnson's layup for 44-32 matched the Cobras' largest lead.
"Our guards created all of that," Dettmering said. "And Ahman is such a ball hawk around the basket." Late in the game, with Murphy in foul trouble, "we were able to spread the floor and run some clock," he said.
A transfer student from Bismarck, McMullin scored a game-high 17 points, eight straight in a run to 17-13 that put Fountain Lake ahead to stay. Seniors Johnson and Mungle, for whom the Jessieville rivalry is especially intense, had 14 and 11, respectively.
Besides Shifflett, none of Jessieville's four other scorers had more than the seven points by Holloway, whose opening 3-point basket was followed by three makes and 22 misses from beyond the arc by the team in blue. The Lions have time to work on shooting and other things before going to the regional with a No. 3 seed.
Sports on 02/15/2019