Sophomore Tristan Jarrett put on a Herculean effort Tuesday in an attempt to upset No. 13 John A. Logan, and he and the Raiders almost pulled it off. Jarrett went bonkers in the second half on his way to scoring a season-high 44 points and 10 rebounds, the second-most points in school history behind Latrell Sprewell and Cory Johnson's 45.
Sprewell set the record during the 1989-90 season and Johnson matched it in the 1996-97 season. Jarrett secured his sixth double-double of the season by adding 10 rebounds. "My team, they want me to score because they know I can score, but I don't really try to score a lot of points. I try to get my teammates in it, too," Jarrett said. "I already know what I can do. I just want to make my teammates better and get the W. "So, the points don't matter if we don't get the W. We lost, so I don't really care about this one." Thirty-one of Jarrett's points came in the second half and overtime, but the 13thranked Volunteers closed the game on a 13-5 run to best the Raiders 98-93. The Raiders (6-7) led by seven in the second half on multiple occasions after Jarrett and freshman Tallon Fonda caught fi re. At one point in the second half, Fonda and Jarrett combined to score 27 straight points for the Raiders, 21 of which came from Jarrett. Fonda fi nished with a season-high 22 points in 34 minutes. "Tristan just kept hitting big shots," Three Rivers coach Gene Bess said. "And Tallon picked up the load pretty well. Everything I see out of (Jarrett) is new because I hadn't seen him play before, but I like his competitive spirit." A rainbow 3-pointer late in regulation looked to have Three Rivers in good shape with a five-point lead. John A. Logan (9-1) guard David Sloan wouldn't miss a shot. Sloan scored 33 points and added 11 assists on 9-of-12 shooting and six made 3s to lead the Volunteers, who shot just under 46 percent from the 3-point line and 53 percent from the fl oor. Sloan sparked the comeback with a couple of free throws after drawing a foul inside, something he did consistently on the way to a 12 of 17 clip from the free throw line. "I thought the biggest difference in the game was (Sloan), but I thought (freshman Abiodun Ayetimiyi) did a great job at times on him, and I thought we kind of had him stymied," Bess said. After Fonda answered by converting an and-1 to push the lead back to six, Sloan drove the lane and kicked out to Christopher Harris for a corner 3. Logan briefly took the lead with a minute remaining, but Jarrett drew a foul and sank two free throws to tie the game. The Raiders got a stop on defense and had the ball with a chance to win, but a fl oater from freshman Mandarius Dickerson bounced off the rim at the horn. Sloan started overtime by getting to the rack and drawing a foul, but Jarrett responded with a pull-up 3 on the wing to retake the lead. A few possessions later, though, the Volunteers regained the lead for good when Sloan kicked out to Harris for a nearly identical corner 3. "We didn't get stops," Jarrett said. "We talked about it in the huddle, but we didn't get the stops we needed down in the clutch. They hit a big 3, then we all had our heads down and thought it was over, so it was over." When it was all going right for the Raiders, Jarrett and Fonda were catalysts for the offense. Jarrett started the stretch of 27 straight points between the two with a staredown triple as he walked the ball up the court. He then added 3 more with a pull-up trey on the wing. After six straight free throws for the Brownsville, Tennessee, native, he sank a fadeaway jumper on the baseline to make it eight straight points. Fonda then got involved by sinking a 3 on the wing near the Three Rivers bench, and Jarrett calmly walked up and drilled a 3-pointer, saying, "My bad" to his bench after not running a fast break when he got the ball. Three Rivers Sophomore Chris Stocks sat out with a stress fracture in his foot. Three Rivers will host Sunrise Christian Academy at 5 p.m. Thursday before getting four weeks off for Christmas break before returning to play on Jan. 2nd.
Nate Fields - Daily American Republic