The Junction City Blue Jays held off a late charge by Topeka High to defeat the Trojans 55-51 at the Shenk Gym Friday night.

Junction City Trailed in the first half but then jumped out to a seven point with over one minute remaining in the ballgame. The Trojans cut the lead to two and had the ball in the closing seconds but were denied any more points. Two late Free throws by A.J. Dickerson in the closing seconds sewed up the win for Junction City ( 5-8 ).

Xavier Cason had a big night for the Blue Jays with 20 points. His coach Nick Perez said, “Xavier was big for us, 20 points. I don’t know how many rebounds he had but he had to be in the teens. He was just unbelievable. ”

The Blue Jays host Highland Park next Friday night.

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The Junction City Lady Jays ( 3-9 ) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 74-63 win over Olathe West in the consolation semifinal round of the 2018 Firebird Winter Classic in Lawrence.

Lady Jay coach Derek Petty pointed to first-half execution by his team as a key. “We executed in the first half. We played good, tough defense.  We got after them full court, created a lot of turnovers, made easy baskets for our ourselves, and we coverted and then got out to a big lead.”

Olathe West rallied back to within five points in the fourth quarter but the Lady Jays put together finish to get the victory.

Junction City will play Leavenworth in the fifth place consolation game in the tournament at 10 o’clock Saturday morning. You can hear the game on 1420 KJCK, The Talk of JC.