The second quarter was a different story, as the Trojans outscored the Blue Jays 21-12 in the quarter, behind tough buckets by Kirby, leaving the Jays trailing 34-29 at the half. "We came out early on a run but in the 2nd quarter they took the lead from us so we came out and played some defense in the second half," Blue Jays standout guard Keyonte Wingfield said after the game.
The Nevada defense would step it up a notch, limiting Kirby in the 2nd half to just 25 total points and only 3 made 3's, as the Blue Jays defense turned into some fast-break points for Nevada throughout the 2nd half. Keyonte Winfield scored 9 of his game-high 25 points in the 3rd quarter and Kobe Hughey closed out the game with 12 points in the 4th quarter to help propel the Jays to a 69-59 win.
In what would be the final game at "The Nest" for the 3 Blue Jay seniors, Kavion Coleman, Brogan Rhodes, and Caleb Moss, but the juniors on the team (Wingfield, Hughey, Myrick) stepped up and played some great basketball to make sure that the seniors final home game ended on a high-note, and to add another District Championship trophy to the trophy case. "Our guys came out and played a great all-around game against a great opponent in Kirby, we knew it was going to be a tough game but our guys fought hard and came out with a big win," Coach Mario Bell said as he spoke on the win.
Keyonte WIngfield led the way with 25 points, as he tends to be whatever the Jays need him to be to win ballgames. Wingfield added 3 assists and 4 steals. "Keyonte Wingfield does whatever we need him to do, defensively or offensively, we know he's going to bring energy every night," as Bell talked on his guard after the game. Kobe Hughey delivered a top-notch fourth quarter performance, scoring 12 of his 19 points down the final stretch of the game, including knocking down a pair of 3's late, Kobe also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. "Kobe has stepped up all year for us late in games, this entire team prepares for these moments all year and it paid off agian tonight," Bell said about Hughey's fourth quarter performance. Justin Myrick scored 9 points on three huge 3-pointers for the Jays. Kavion Coleman scored 8 points, fighting through a box and 1 from the opening tip to the final buzzer, but Coleman handled that very well, he never tried to do too much, doing a great job letting the game come to him, as well as defending at a high level. Coleman led the Jays with 5 assists and 6 rebounds. Senior Caleb Moss played great, scoring 4 points and doing what he's done all year for Nevada, making the tough, gritty plays to win games. Brogan Rhodes and Monti Mixon each scored 2 points, as both players added 4 rebounds.
With the win, the Blue Jays clinched the #1 seed next week in the Regional Tournament, as they will matchup against Emerson on Wednesday evening. A win Wednesday will send the Blue Jays back to the State Tournament.
