Trail Blazers chisel away second-half deficit, score crucial conference victory over Jaguars

DANVILLE, Ill. — Trailing by 18 points with 16 minutes remaining in one of those must-have games, the John Wood Community College men’s basketball team didn’t do anything drastic or dramatic.

“We just plugged away and plugged away,” JWCC coach Brad Hoyt said.

The Trail Blazers avoided mistakes, too.

JWCC limited Danville to 22 second-half points, committed just two turnovers and scored the final six points in the final two minutes to rally for a 59-57 victory Saturday afternoon in Mid-West Athletic Conference play at Mary Miller Gymnasium.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Trail Blazers (15-12, 6-4 MWAC) have positioned themselves to finish in the top half of the league standings and earn a first-round home game in the Region 24 postseason tournament.

Winning twice this week, especially on the heels of a five-game skid, has changed the Trail Blazers’ outlook and approach.

“Physically, your team has to be ready to get through the postseason,” Hoyt said. “But emotionally, it’s just as important. So wins like this that had to be team driven, where we had to make some adjustments and make some decisions and figure things out, they really help you emotionally.”

John Wood trailed 35-23 at halftime after allowing Danville to shoot 51.4 percent from the field and go 5 of 7 from 3-point range. The Trail Blazers also had nearly as many turnovers (8) as they did field goals (10).

“I challenge our guys at halftime from a personality standpoint,” Hoyt said. “I didn’t think we were problem solving on the floor. They responded exceptionally well. It’s a good physical win, but it’s a better emotional win.”

The Jaguars led 41-23 with 16 minutes to go in regulation before the Trail Blazers chiseled away at the lead. They cut the deficit to 10 with 11 minutes to play and got it to single digits for good after Joshua Talton and Jordan Shelton scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 48-42 with 6:49 to play.

JWCC got within two points four times in the final five minutes, but didn’t tie the game until Shelton stole the ball and was fouled intentionally in transition. He made both free throws to tie the game at 57 with 41 seconds. On the ensuing possession, Shelton drove and scored with 26 seconds remaining.

The Trail Blazers forced a turnover on the Jaguars’ next possession with Logan Robbins tipping a pass away to preserve the victory.

“We really, really guarded them to give ourselves a chance,” Hoyt said. “We kept getting stops, we rebounded it and we didn’t turn it over. It seems really, really simple, but for us, we took care of the basketball enough to keep us in there. We just plugged away and plugged away and plugged away.”

Danville shot 36.1 percent from the field in the second half and went 1 of 7 from 3-point range, while committing four turnovers. JWCC committed just two turnovers in the second half.

“When you play a college basketball game and those are metrics you meet in a half, you have a really, really good chance at success,” Hoyt said. “We took care of the ball, and we switched defenses in the second half. I think that got them a little on their heels.”

Shelton led the Trail Blazers with 20 points, while four others scored seven points apiece.