Take a Kracht at it: Sharpshooter buries pivotal treys to propel JWCC men to needed victory

QUINCY — The moment Ja’Veon Taylor intercepted the pass, Brandon Kracht sprinted to the right corner of the floor.

But he never actually expected to see the ball come his way.

“Honestly, I did not,” Kracht said. “It’s kind of like you’re going, ‘One more, one more, one more,’ hoping for that pass. It came to me, so I was happy as hell.”

He made nearly everyone filling the bleachers inside John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center erupt with delight, too, when he buried the 3-pointer as time expired on the first half of Wednesday night’s game.

It sent the JWCC men’s basketball team to the locker room with a 22-point advantage, and an energetic start to the second half enabled the Trail Blazers to finish off an 87-63 victory over Lincoln Land in Mid-West Athletic Conference play.

“That was probably one of the better shots I’ve had here,” said Kracht, who finished 4 of 9 from 3-point range. “With this crowd — the place was packed — there was so much energy. It was kind of fun to run out to the locker room after that. It was a lot of fun.”

So was getting back on track.

The Trail Blazers had lost three consecutive games — all by six points or less — and were upset on the road at Spoon River College last week to put their shot at being the No. 1 seed in the NJCAA Division II region tournament in jeopardy.

But some other upsets within the region and the fact JWCC (16-11, 5-3 MWAC) could still finish first in the league standings opens up a myriad of possibilities.

And it makes Thursday’s makeup game against league-leading Parkland highly important.

“Even though we played good, it has to be 10 times better tomorrow,” JWCC sophomore forward Jarvis Jennings said.

They have some momentum and energy to power them through, courtesy of a flurry at the end of the first half.

Taylor made a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:55 remaining in the half to give JWCC a 40-26 lead, and he scored on a layup with 1:04 to go after Kracht stole a pass in front of the Trail Blazers’ bench and threw a strike to Taylor before landing out of bounds.

A 3-pointer by Kracht from the top of the key with 28 seconds remaining made it 45-26, but the Loggers couldn’t hold for the last shot. Taylor intercepted a pass from the right baseline and drove straight down the middle of the floor and into the lane before kicking out to Kracht.

His shot hit nothing but net.

“It was a great decision because he made it,” JWCC coach Brad Hoyt said. “It was a good pass and a good find.”

Hoyt joked Taylor passed up the chance to score for another reason.

“I think it’s because Ja’Veon couldn’t make a layup,” Hoyt said with a smile. “It was easier for him to make that pass.”

The passing and shot-making are what enabled the Trail Blazers to have success.

They finished with 21 assists on 34 field goals and committed just nine turnovers. They shot 56.3 percent from 3-point range in the first half and 50.7 percent from the field overall with Garrett Snow scoring 18 points to lead for JWCC players in double figures.

Kracht and Jennings each had 13 points, while Taylor had 10. Nine different players had assists with Gabe Cox leading the way with six.

“I thought we were good because we had some urgency when we didn’t have the ball in our hands,” Hoyt said. “That’s when it works. The guys who didn’t have the ball were moving with some pace to them that just got us some space and we have some guys who can make some shots.”

It showcased how this team wants to play in March.

“Collectively, we played really good,” Jennings said. “I feel like if we keep taking it day by day, win tomorrow, have a good practice on Friday, take care of business Saturday and I feel like we’ll be fine.”