The Junction City Blue Jays appeared flat in the first half as they fell behind the visiting Seaman Vikings by 18 points after two  quarters at the Shenk Gym.

Following the break the Blue Jays turned on the energy and made a run at the Vikings to pull within seven points in the fourth quarter. But that’s where it stopped, with Seaman pulling away to a 67-54 win over Junction City.

Blue Jay coach Nick Perez felt his team didn’t play in the first half. “But we did fight in the second half. And I asked them, one think I asked you guys to do and I’ve always told you this from day one, your shots may not fall one day, you may not play good defense one day, but I want you to play hard. I thought in the second half we did that.”

Terrance Crumpton came off the bench to give the Blue Jays a lift in the second half and James Hall had multiple rebounds around the rim. Crumpton finished with 6 points while Hall scored 15.

For JCHS seniors Aaron Hamilton, James Hall, Kody Westerhaus. A.J. Dickerson and Anthony Twiggs it was their final home game.

The Blue Jays played most of the game without their leading scorer A.J. Dickerson. In a Junction City win over Topeka West on Monday he went down late in the game with a mild knee injury. He started against Seaman wearing a brace on his right knee but just a few minutes into the game he went down again with that injury and had to leave the game. The coach confirmed Dickerson will not play Friday night when the Blue Jays play at Emporia. Hopefully he can return next week in the Class 6A Substate Tournament first-round matchup at Lawrence Free State.

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The Lady Jays ( 0-19 ) struggled in a 58-20 loss to Seaman at the Shenk Gym. Senior Maja Bellika played her final game for Junction City.

The Lady Jays play at Emporia Friday night.

You can hear the Blue Jays and Lady Jays on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK AM.