The Junction City Blue Jays  got 27 points from A.J. Dickerson enroute to a 50-49 win over the Hayden Wildcats at the Shenk Gym Tuesday night.

Junction City ( 7-5 ) used a 10-0 run to begin the second half to jump out to a nine-point lead. But Hayden behind the shooting of Levi Braun battled back to pull to within one point after three quarters. Then down the stretch Junction City got just enough scoring to go up by four in the closing seconds. Braun hit one last three-point shot to pull Hayden within one with 1.2 seconds remaining. But the Blue Jays were able to successfully inbounds the basketball to Dickerson and hold on for the win.

The game was a bit of a white-knuckler for Blue Jay coach Nate Perez. “I just feel like we do some mental stuff. We turn the ball over and we take some bad shots at times and I think we get a little yantsy on offense.” Perez also stated, ” What we need to understand is when we run offense, and we run it the right way we’re open, and I think we panic a little bit. But I’m proud of our guys and the way we fought.”

Junction City will host Topeka High on Friday and Emporia on Saturday at the Shenk Gym.