Jackson South Side is looking past its perfect regular season
When the final buzzer sounded following Jackson South Side’s 73-43 victory over Jackson North Side, there was no big celebration from the Hawks for their 28-0 unblemished record in the regular season. There was no celebration to Jackson South Side’s…
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Continue ReadingWhen the final buzzer sounded following Jackson South Side’s 73-43 victory over Jackson North Side, there was no big celebration from the Hawks for their 28-0 unblemished record in the regular season.
There was no celebration to Jackson South Side’s clinching of the No. 1 seed in next week’s TSSAA Class AA District Tournament.
All of the players, including head coach DaMonn Fuller, walked to the locker room as soon as the game ended. Going undefeated was never a plan for the Hawks, but it happened. Coach Fuller has a team that’s hungry enough to look past a perfect regular season record.
Following the win, Fuller mentioned it’s all on him to keep the team grounded.
“You’re dealing with 13-18 year old kids. You have to keep them focus and help them understand that the season comes day by day,” Fuller said. “We didn’t set out to be undefeated this year. We have been keeping the kids focused, keeping them doing what they’re supposed to do, doing the fundamentals.
“And trying to keep them believing in what we do and not look at the record.”
Fuller has a team that doesn’t seem to get rattled in physical games. The Hawks were in one against the Indians, who came into the game with a 12-1 record in district play. The referees issued out five technical fouls in the first half.
Guards Camaryon Jones and Adam Smith Jr. for Jackson North Side and Kobe Ward and Janais Parram for Jackson South Side picked up four of the five technical fouls. One of the assistant coaches for the Indians was called for the fifth technical foul.
In the second half, Jackson North Side head coach Tony Brown picked up a technical foul and Smith Jr. picked up his second technical foul and fifth foul of the game. He will have to sit out two games next week in the district tournament. Smith Jr. is a big piece to the Indians’ offense. He led them in scoring with 14 points.
Because of the technical fouls, neither team was able to get into a rhythm offensively. Both teams had unforced turnovers, but the Hawks took advantage of the technical foul called on Jackson North Side’s bench late in the second quarter. Jackson South Side converted on four free throws to push its lead up to 32-19 at the break after leading by just 26-17 before the technical.
From there, the Hawks didn’t have any trouble. Janais Parram led the team with 19 points. He went 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Junior wing Brandon Maclin finished with 15. Senior forward J.J. Johnson added 11.
It could easily be said that this was the type of game Jackson South Side needed heading into postseason play. Everyone stayed level-headed, despite the game being more of a trash talk affair.
“We went back to the basics, to the fundamentals of doing things that a lot of teams don’t like doing,” Fuller said. “We had to go back to getting our hands up, moving the ball and shooting the 3 to try to get the game to go in our favor. They slowed us down tremendously tonight.
“But at the end of the day, we still came back and prevailed with the win.”
It’s a new season
I asked Fuller about the mindset of this team heading into the postseason. His answer was straight to the point. Just win 10.
“The undefeated season is over with,” Fuller said. “It’s a new season now. It’s back to 0-0. We have to win 10 games to win the state championship. So, that’s what we’re focusing on. We are going to get back to the drawing board to work some kinks out and try to keep the guys believing in what we’re trying to do.”