B

Dobyns-Bennett showed on Monday night against Jeff County just why they are the defending Class 4A State Champions.

Taking on a solid Patriots defense, the Indians shot the lights out as they cruised to a 72-40 victory. The 72 points were the most Jeff County has given up all season.

“The first thing I told our kids when we got the job is that this isn’t going to be easy,” Jeff County coach Andy Hill said. “It’s going to be a challenge. Anything worth accomplishing in life is not going to be easy. It’s just been the story of our year. They got some open looks, and we got some open looks in the first half. And they knocked them down. They hit some extremely difficult shots too.

“I thought we threw out some different lineups in the second half and knocked down some shots and competed and got some good movement offensively. It’s good for our young kids to go in there and see the speed and the size.”

Vontez McCray and Kip Parker led the way in the scoring column for Jeff County with nine points each while Cy Mincey added six. Other scorers for the Patriots were Talan Higgins with four, Brody Carr with four, Jacob Shrader with four, Kohl Bonura with two and Ben Chandler with two.

D-B was led by 20 points from Jonavan Gillespie, 16 from Brady Stump and 13 from Charlie McHugh.

The two teams went back-and-forth to start as the Patriots got an early basket from Higgins and a free throw from Shrader. The Patriots trailed by two with two minutes left after a 3-pointer by Mincey, but D-B scored seven of the final nine points to lead 17-10.

Similar to the girls game, the second quarter was when things fell apart for the Patriots as D-B scored seven straight to start. Chandler scored to break the drought, but the Indians scored seven more and led 31-12. It was 34-15 at the half.

D-B opened the third quarter with seven more points and were off from there on their way to the 72-40 victory. In the second half, Parker had nine points while McCray had seven. Carr added four points.

Jeff County will be back in action for their final home district game on Friday, taking on Morristown West. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.

“Our guys know how important this game is,” Hill said. “But our approach and preparation needs to stay the same. They’re (West) a challenge with their size. They’ve got guards that can make shots. Their point guard (Bereket Evans) can cause a lot of havoc getting in the paint and making tough shots. He’s a problem to defend.

“Our kids know the challenge that’s ahead of us. I told them in the locker room that we are going to prepare the right way. As long as we can continue to do that, we can live to the results. We’ll just go back this week, prepare and tip it up on Friday.”