MBB Jacksonville Steps Up To Down Trinity Baptist
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville used a pair of defensive stands in the second half to cruise to its second win of the season, a 69-57 victory over Trinity Baptist at Swisher Gym on Wednesday.
The Dolphins first (2-4) first showed their defensive might with a 15-3 run that spanned 9:12 to end the first half and start the second.
After taking a 32-30 lead with 2:45 to go in the first half, the Dolphins held the Eagles (4-5) to only three points until the 13:33 mark in the second.
As the defense did its work, Jacksonville's Kori Babineaux and Tim Gill led a scoring parade that put the Dolphins up 47-33.
From there, Jacksonville pulled out to a 15-point lead, 53-38, with 12:02 to play. The Eagles pulled back to within seven, but the Dolphins sealed the deal with another defensive stand that held Trinity Baptist to only six points in the last 6:12 of the game.
Four Dolphins scored in double figures with junior Anders Misters leading the way with 19 points. Sophomore Shea Jones added another 12 while J.R. Holder had 11 and Babineaux 10. The Dolphins hit a season high with 19 assists and took in 69 rebounds to the Eagles' 57.
"Our whole emphasis over the last, probably, week has been to simply play harder for longer stretches,'' head coach Tony Jasick said. "I thought we got in a little bit of a lull the last week where we didn't play with the same fight and same energy that I thought we did when we came out of the gate early in the year.''
Jasick said the emphasis seems to be taking hold.
"I thought we guarded better and we turned it into some baskets on the other end,'' he said. "That's how we want to play.''
The game was the second consecutive in which the Dolphins had multiple double-digit scorers.
"That's the only way we can be successful,'' Jasick said. "I don't think we have a guy who can 'quote, unquote' put a team on his back and get you 30. Our strength as a team has got to be as a collective unit sharing the ball, getting the ball in the paint and being ready to play. We were really, really, really efficient on the offensive end when the ball was passed in to the paint. When we don't get the ball to the paint we are very average.''
After falling behind 4-0 with 18:42 to play in the first half, the Dolphins threatened to put the game away early as they scored 16 consecutive points.
Nine of those came from Misters who had three two-point field goals and a three-pointer in the spurt. He wound up with 12 points in the half.
Trinity got rolling again with 13:02 to go in the half when Kirk Hill hit a three-pointer and from there the Eagles went on a 14-2 run to tie at 18 with 8:43 to go.
After another tie at 23 with 7:12 in the half, Holder, who had 11 first-half points, took control and scored nine points and the Dolphins scored the last seven points to take a 39-30 halftime lead.
The Dolphins travel to South Florida Saturday for a 2 p.m. game with the Bulls.
