Jags end regular season with confidence booster

Losses in its last two games, including Tuesday’s double-overtime heartache at league champion Lee’s Summit North, cost Blue Springs South’s boys basketball team a shot at the Suburban Big Six Conference crown.

But Friday’s regular-season finale at crosstown rival Blue Springs provided the Jaguars a chance to rebuild their confidence in a charged atmosphere before district play.

By overcoming two extended scoring droughts and a 25-point performance from Blue Springs forward Jay Corwin, South did just that, grabbing the lead for good with five minutes to play and holding on for a 54-50 victory.

South (7-3 conference) takes a 20-5 record into the postseason, while Blue Springs fell to 13-12 and 6-4 in coach Frank Wheeler’s last home game on the bench. Wheeler will take over as the Blue Springs activities director after this season.

“We knew we’re a better team than what we showed,” said South forward Wes Poke, who matched Corwin’s 25 points and grabbed nine of his 10 rebounds at the offensive end. “We needed this game to prove we could close out a game.”

After Blue Springs pulled within 47-45 on Corwin’s long jumper and Deiondre Hall’s assist to Justin Pruitt with 1:28 showing, Poke scored off an open post feed, then in transition after a Wildcat turnover.

“We put the ball in the hands of whoever was in the best position,” said Poke, who scored his team’s first seven points and had 11 in the first quarter. “I just happened to be in the best position. Right place, right time, and our guards did a great job getting me the ball.”

Down six with 40 seconds left, the Wildcats kept the fans in suspense, though.

 Hall got a putback, and after D.J. Booker missed the front end of a one-and-one, Blue Springs reserve Justin Pruitt drained a 3-pointer from the wing with 19 seconds left, making it 51-50.

Following a timeout, South’s Carl Martin inbounded to Booker, got the ball back and was fouled with 13.2 showing. He showed no jitters in sinking both free throws for a 53-50 lead.

Martin said he expected to get the ball and be sent to the foul line.

“If (Booker) was double-teamed, yes,” he said. “I was calm. It starts in practice.”

With a foul to give, South bumped Hall near midcourt with 9.6 showing, and 5-foot-9 Justin Pitts soared for the rebound when Hall’s corner 3-ball rimmed short in the closing seconds. Pitts split two free throws (the Jaguars were 16 of 18 at the line) to ice the win.

“We’ve been on the road all month, and every game’s either a courtwarming or Senior Night,” Jaguars coach Jimmy Cain said. “We’ve taken a lot of teams’ best shots. It’s a learning experience for our guys to go on the road and handle the environment.”

Cain’s team led 15-10 at the first stop, but didn’t score again until 3:25 remained in the second. Meanwhile, a free throw and tip-in by Corwin, who scored his team’s first 13 points, started a 10-point push by the Wildcats.

Still, Booker netted six points and Kevin Puryear mixed in a three-point play to give the Jaguars a 24-22 halftime edge.

In the third, after Pitts’ steal and layup produced a 32-27 lead at the 6:12 mark, the Jaguars didn’t score again until two Martin free throws with 24 seconds left. But the period was a turnover-fest – eight committed by South and seven by the home squad – and Blue Springs took a slim 35-34 lead into the fourth.

“We were lucky in the third,” Cain said. “At the end of the third quarter, we look up and we’re only down one, so we had a positive frame of mind going into the fourth.

“Credit Blue Springs for getting after us, but our kids kept their composure.”

Both teams had 16 turnovers through three quarters, but the Wildcats committed another seven in the fourth. After Corwin’s turnaround jumper made it 41-40, South scored the next seven points – two Poke baskets down low and Booker’s steal and coast-to-coast drive for a three-point play – to claim the lead for good.

“It would’ve been nice to have a little momentum (before districts),” Wheeler said. “I thought we did a good job stopping their perimeter game, but inside Poke gave us trouble, and having (Marvin) Clark in foul trouble didn’t help.

“When we got behind, we sped up a little bit and didn’t make good decisions.”

Clark, the Wildcats’ 6-6 junior, had three fouls in the first half and played just a couple minutes after halftime before fouling out with six points. Pruitt and Watkins netted seven points each off the bench to back Corwin.

Booker, who came in needing 12 points for 1,000 in his career, reached that milestone early in the fourth and finished with 17.

Wheeler, who will be dropping the first word from his “assistant activities director” title after the season, has coached 26 years at the high school level, including a 195-199 record in 15 years at Blue Springs.

“I’m really gonna miss the coaching part and the kids,” he said. “But now I have the opportunity to work with all the coaches, and we have a great faculty and staff.”