Vincent wins 5th in a row

Published 5:42 pm Wednesday, December 14, 2016

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

VINCENT – Don’t tell the Vincent Yellow Jackets that they are a young team that’s too small to win several games this year, they may laugh at that comment as they are proving us all wrong so far this year.

Coming into their game with BB Comer on Monday, Dec. 12, the Yellow Jackets were winners of four consecutive games. After starting the season 3-3 overall, they have figured out how to be more consistent and take advantage of the teams they are playing. They continued that trend in their matchup with the Tigers as they went on to win easily by a final score of 65-37 and continue their win streak to five games.

Vincent (8-3, 1-0) got off to a strong start on the defensive game in this one and maintained the pressure on that end of the court consistently throughout the remainder of the game. The Yellow Jackets held BB Comer to six first-quarter points as they outscored the Tigers 14-6.

The three ball wasn’t falling for Vincent early on as they combined to shoot 4-16 from deep in the first two quarters, so they relied heavily on their defense and two-point shot attempts. They were 5-8 on from two-point range in the first quarter and 2-3 in the second quarter, which was the consistency they needed to jump out in front early.

Vincent’s defense also took advantage of eight first-half turnovers by the Tigers scoring 12 of their 29 points in the half off of mistakes by the visitors. This helped propel the Yellow Jackets out to a 29-16 halftime lead.

They continued that trend into the second half as they were able to outscore BB Comer 17-10 in the third quarter. Zavian Kelley and Stephen Campbell were defensive machines as they combined for eight of Vincent’s 11 steals. Kelley had five to Campbell’s three.

Going into the fourth they had pretty much sealed the game up with a 46-26 advantage, but the defense didn’t shut down whatsoever as they limited the Tigers to just 4-12 from the field. Vincent gave up their most points in a quarter of the night with 11, but also scored the most with 19 as they had their best shooting quarter of the game.

Overall the Yellow Jackets held the visiting Tigers to making just 15 of their 50 shots, which was only 30 percent from the field and included an 0-6 performance from behind the arc.

It was also nice for Vincent head coach John Hadder that his team had a balanced scoring attack in the game.

Stephen Campbell, who has been one of the best players in the county all year, led the way for the Yellow Jackets with 26 points, while adding nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. Josef Greene also had himself a nice game with 17 points on 6-8 shooting, 1-1 from three. Zavien Kelley added a nice 13 points hitting five of his nine shots in the game and also coming up with four rebounds, two assists and a game-high five steals. In all seven different players scored for Vincent.