Let’s get physical: Trail Blazers withstand Snappers’ style to earn first conference victory

QUINCY — The physical aspect of Wednesday night’s Mid-West Athletic Conference game negated the natural rhythm and flow John Wood Community College men’s basketball coach Brad Hoyt relishes.

So while he was encouraged by the outcome, Hoyt was disappointed with the style.

“I was expecting a little better basketball,” Hoyt said after the Trail Blazers strung enough positive possessions together in the second half to secure an 87-75 victory over Spoon River College at the Student Activity Center. “I just didn’t think there was a flow to it.

“Sure, it was physical, but I thought they dictated the tempo for way too many minutes of that game. I really expected us to dictate a little bit more tempo. So it turned into a grind.”

That took some of the shine off a bounce-back victory.

The Trail Blazers (12-8, 1-1 MWAC) suffered a four-point loss Sunday at Parkland College in the conference opener and needed a victory ahead of Saturday’s trip to nationally ranked Danville Area Community College. 

“We knew we had it in us,” freshman guard Gabe Cox said. “We just had to prove it to ourselves and bounce back.”

While they did that, the Trail Blazers didn’t dictate the action.

“Once we buy into other team’s games and not play ours, that’s what leads to our downfall,” sophomore forward Jarvis Jennings said.

It’s why JWCC led only 43-42 at halftime.

“We knew we had to be tougher and play our game,” Jennings said. “If you paid attention to the game, we started picking them apart because we started running into spacing. In the first half, like I said, we played their game.

“We’re not good at anybody else’s game. We’re good at our game. We ran our offense, started picking them apart and that’s how we were able to space out the lead.”

Jennings was responsible for spearheading that effort.

He scored 23 of his game-high 36 points in the second half, went to the free-throw line 22 times and refused to back down when the Snappers hammered and hacked him. Better yet, the Trail Blazers made their free throws.

JWCC went 29 of 39 from the line, making 23 free throws in the second half alone as the physical play led to the Snappers committing 24 fouls.

“The more you try to get into us and hit up on us, we have some things we can turn on to turn your aggressiveness into our advantage,” said Cox, who led the Trail Blazers with seven assists.

This time, it also led to a bevy of turnovers. JWCC committed 14 turnovers in the second half and 19 overall. Spoon River committed 22 turnovers

“That’s how teams guard us,” Hoyt said. “They get physical and try to push us out of our spacing and push us out of our stuff. We’ve handled it better at different times. I didn’t think tonight we handled it very well. Our style is very, very different from their style.

“I thought we had to win a game in their style, which is a good sign. But we have to continue to find a way to get back to what we do.”

Jennings firmly believes this victory is a springboard in that process.

“Personally, I don’t feel like we’ve been on the track that we should be,” Jennings said. “Tonight will help. I don’t want to hop on and off. I want to stay on track. So we have to finish Saturday.”