Jamestown wins Stover Tournament

Jamestown defeated Dixon 62-58 in the championship game of the Stover Tournament on Jan. 6, 2018.
Jamestown defeated Dixon 62-58 in the championship game of the Stover Tournament on Jan. 6, 2018.

STOVER, Mo. -The Jamestown Eagles defeated the Dixon Bulldogs 62-58 to win the championship game of the Stover Tournament on Jan. 6.

In a hard-fought game, the top-seeded Eagles started the day 0-4 from the field and trailed 17-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Jamestown had trouble stopping Dixon's 3-point shooting in the first half. Dixon made nine 3-pointers in the half and, at one point, had made five shots from deep in a row and led by as much as nine points.

Jamestown head coach Seth Thomas said that the team had difficulty getting to the shooters in the first half.

"We weren't closing out under control," Thomas said. "We were over running our close outs and that led to open threes."

In the second quarter, Jamestown was able to slow down Dixon, as the Eagles trailed 36-35 at half time. The Eagles continued to fight back and give Dixon trouble, as Jamestown only allowed eight points in the third quarter. The Eagles took advantage of the momentum swing, as they built a 49-44 lead.

In the second half, Jamestown allowed Dixon to make only three 3-pointers. Thomas said the defense did a much better job of closing out.

"We did a better job of taking away their driving angles, so they wouldn't have so many open threes," Thomas said. "We were going to live with contested 3-point shots."

Thomas said that the team's defensive stops played a big role in them taking control of the game in the third quarter.

"We weren't getting stops early in the game," Thomas said. "We finally got some stops and we kept scoring and that's what really changed it and we got control of it and played at our pace."

Jamestown led by as much as 10 points late in the game, but Dixon made a last-ditch run to tie the game. While Dixon was able to cut into the lead, Jamestown was able to hold on for the victory.

Trenton Barbour led the Eagles with 17 points. Austin Flippin added 13 points includingback-to-back 3-pointers in the first half to cut into Dixon's lead. And, Isaac Imhoff had 11 points.

Jamestown defeated Russellville 80-31 in the first-round game and the Eagles defeated Stoutland 74-50 in the second-round game.

The team improves to 12-1 on the season. The Eagles' next game will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at Prairie Home.