Friday’s boys basketball game at Andrew Jackson in Jacksonville featured two of the top hoops programs in the state.
Visiting Williston was ranked No. 1 in the Rural classification in the first FHSAA rankings, while Jackson is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A.
The Red Devils, who have won the last two Class 1A state titles, fell behind by double digits in the opening quarter and never recovered in a 65-44 loss to the Tigers (14-1).
“I wouldn’t say we ran 10 (offensive) sets the entire night,” said Williston coach Jim Ervin. “There was a lot of this come down, rush something, turn the ball over, and it was just one of those nights. Andrew Jackson is a good basketball team. They play well at home and they’re well coached, and they do a good job.”
Jackson raced out to a 14-3 lead on a layup by senior point guard Jahari Simmons (team-high 19 points) with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter.
It appeared as if the Red Devils had settled down, going on a 6-0 run that spanned the end of the first quarter and the first 1:34 of the second.
Senior guard Joel Washington’s bucket came just a couple of seconds before the first-quarter buzzer to cut it to single digits.
Then, at the start of the second quarter, a floater in the lane by junior Azyron Johnson cut the deficit to seven, followed by a layup by sophomore Jaden Magee to move them within five at 14-9 with 6:26 to play in the half.
Williston (9-6) also got within six at 19-13 on a layup by senior Giovanni Wright with 4:02 to play in the half, but the Tigers answered, thanks to its defense, with an 8-0 run for a 27-13 lead with 1:55 to play until halftime.
A Red Devils’ turnover led to a dunk by junior Terrell Mosely (14 points), who was one of four Tigers in double figures along with junior Corenzas Dennard (11) and senior Taishawn Thomas (10).
“You can’t turn the ball over 19 times in a basketball game and expect to win any games,” Ervin said. “We let them speed us up and we weren’t disciplined on either end of the court.”
Williston played without starting point guard Xavier Kirkpatrick (sore knee), forcing senior De’Andre Harvey into that role.
Kirkpatrick, who had knee surgery over the summer, is expected back within a week.
Meanwhile, Harvey, who picked up two fouls in the opening quarter, responded with a game-high 21 points.
“Deandre is a special player, but without Xavier, one of our other leaders out there, it’s tough without him on the court,” Ervin said. “He’s a kid that can put it in the basket and he’s been our primary point guard for the year, so we played without him tonight. Not making any excuses, but we probably leaned on De’Andre a little more there tonight than we needed to handling the ball and he was out of position and he struggled at times scoring.”
Harvey, who had 16 of his 21 in the second half, scored on an offensive putback with 1:38 to play in the half, followed by a left elbow jumper with 19 seconds to play as the Red Devils got within 10 points, 27-17, at the break.
However, that was as close as Williston would get the remainder of the game.
Shots weren’t falling for Williston, which contributed to tying a season-low in points, but “the turnovers were the hugest part.”
“They had 20-30 points off our turnovers,” Ervin said.
Washington added 10 points for Williston, which will travel to Fort White at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
It’s the second game of a four-game road swing, but prior to that, they were in Ocala for four games at the Kingdom of the Sun at Vanguard (Ocala), Dec. 27-30, and also played a pair of games at a tournament in Lowndes, Georgia (Dec. 20-21).
Williston hasn’t played at home since a 66-33 win against P.K. Yonge on Dec. 12 and won’t play at home again until Jan. 13 when it hosts Chiefland.
“We haven’t been beaten in Williston in three years and no one will come to Williston to play,” Ervin said. “We have eight home games. We have to travel everywhere we go. We don’t get the luxury of playing any home games. Hopefully, that will help prepare us for the state tournament. That’s our ultimate goal, that last game is the one that matters.”