The Johnson City boys basketball team fell to 0-3 in district play after losing to Junction (66-44) and Harper (51-39) last week.
Riding a three-game overall losing streak, Johnson City finds itself at the bottom of the District 29 standings as it needs to make up ground in order to get back into the playoff chase. It is still early in the season, however, and head coach Lewis Jenkins is confident in his team’s ability to right the ship.
“We’re not going to change what we do,” Jenkins said. “We’re going to play fundamentally sound basketball.”
Johnson City hosted Junction on New Year’s Eve for its first district game in 11 days. Junction got to work quickly and built a 14-9 lead in the first quarter, but Johnson City answered back and kept pace, preserving the five-point difference with a 28-23 score at halftime. Junction came out of the locker room for the second half on fire as it scored 18 points in the third quarter and 20 points in the fourth to take the game 6644. After keeping the game close in the first half, the Eagles were unable to contain the explosive Junction offense that emerged after halftime.
“We have to be more physical inside,” Jenkins said. “[Junction] had a lot of baskets in about eight feet of the bucket where they’re just getting the ball inside and putting the shoulder on us.”
Freshman Jadyn Jenkins led Johnson City scoring against Junction with 15 points. He connected on 8-of-10 shots at the freethrow line (including 5-of-6 in the third quarter alone) and made three field goals. Sophomore Collin Corpus added 11 points scored from three three-point shots and one two-point basket.
On Jan. 3, Johnson City hosted Harper and lost 5139. It was a tight ballgame at first, as the Eagles kept pace with the Longhorns as both teams scored 12 points in the first quarter. Harper contain Johnson City better in the second quarter as the game went into halftime with a 24-19 Longhorns’ lead. Harper continued its consistency with 13 points in the third and 14 in the fourth, while Johnson City was held to 10 points in each quarter.
In district play this season, Johnson City has played the road leg of the series with San Saba and the home side of the series with Junction and Harper. For the Johnson City team that won the district a season ago, evening these series would propel the team right back into the middle of the playoff chase with renewed confidence.
“We lost to San Saba at San Saba,” Coach Jenkins said. “We get them [at home], I think we can beat them [at home].”
With both mid-season breaks over, Johnson City has a mostly uninterrupted stretch of district games from now until the season finale on Feb. 11 against Center Point. The Eagles host Mason (0-2 in district), a team currently holding an eight-game losing streak, after press time Tuesday. They then travel to Goldthwaite (3-0) for a game with the current district leader.
Johnson City then begins the second half of the district season a week later.
Top, right, Brady Odiorne leaps and fights for the ball in the game against Junction. (Photo by Andrew Hermes)
