The Derby Panthers outscored Junction City  27-21 in the final quarter to defeat the Blue Jays 73-68 in the consolation semifinal round of the McPherson Invitational on Friday. Junction City ( 3-8 ) had led the game by one, 47-46 after three quarters.

Turnovers were a problem for the Blue Jays, who committed 21 in the loss. Coach Nick Perez said his team played tough. “I thought they played just about as well as we did since Hays, but we had 21 turnovers. Against a team like Derby you’re not going to get it done.” The Blue Jays defeated Hays in a mid-December game.

Junction City ( 3-8 ) was led in scoring by A.J. Dickerson with 22 points, including a one-handed catch and dunk on an alley-oop play. Tyler Brown led Derby ( 6-4 ) with 24 points.

The Blue Jays will play Blue Valley West in the seventh place consolation game at the McPherson Invitational at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. The game can be heard on the 1420 KJCK AM. Derby will advance into the fifth place consolation game against Wichita North Saturday afternoon.

 

Lawrence Free State hit three free throws with 2.9 seconds remaining in the first half to open up a seven point lead over Junction City at the break. In the third quarter the Firebirds outscored the Blue Jays 20-10 and moved on to a 67-45 win in the first round of the McPherson Invitational.

Lawrence Free State shot 51% from the field in the game compared to 32% for the Blue Jays. Junction City coach Nick Perez noted the Firebirds shot the ball extremely well. I thought we did a great job in the first half of controlling the tempo, closing out with our hands up and rebounding. Second half they started to do some things, get in the paint, we just didn’t play very good defense in the second half. McDermott got going, Luinstra got going and all of a sudden their team gets going.” Zach

McDermott finished with 14 points and Garrett Luinstra 24 for Lawrence Free State. A.J. Dickerson led Junction City with 17 points.

The Blue Jays meet Derby in the consolation semifinal round of the tournament at 3 p.m. Friday. Lawrence Free State advances to play Wichita Bishop Carroll in the winner’s bracket at 6:45 p.m. Friday. The tournament continues through Saturday.

 

The Junction City Lady Jays will meet Kansas City Sumner in the first round of the 2018 Firebird Winter Classic Thursday, January 25th. The tournament is being played at Lawrence Free State High School January 25th through January 27th.

The other first-round pairings have Washburn Rural playing Derby, Leavenworth meeting Wichita Heights, and Wichita South playing Lawrence Free State.

The Lady Jay – Sumner ballgame is scheduled at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, the 25th.

The Junction City Blue Jay wrestling team finished 21st out of 28 teams at the Newton Invitational wrestling tournament that was held Friday and Saturday.

Leading the way for Junction City was Max Bazan with a fifth place finish in the 132 pound weight class. He went 4-2 in the tournament.

Keith Smith finished 8th at 160 pounds with a record of 3-3, and Terrance Adeleye finished 8th at 182 pounds with a record of 3-3.  Valley Center captured the team championship.

The Blue Jays will compete in a dual tournament at Emporia next Saturday.

 

 

 

 

The Junction City Blue Jays scored 35 points on the first day of the Newton Invitational on Friday. The Blue Jays were in 20th place in the team standings.

In the individual competition Max Bazan went 3-, Terrance Adelye 2-1, while Logan Roether, Russell Wilkey dand C.J. Neuman were 1-1 on the day.

The tournament continues on Saturday.

A.J. Dickerson poured in 26 points and helped Junction City rally from an eight point deficit to take the lead in the second half, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Blue Jays fell to Emporia 61-51 in high school basketball.

Junction City trailed by only one point, 41-40, after three quarters. But just as quickly as the offense picked up in the third quarter it slowed down in the fourth period. The Blue Jays were outscored by the Spartans 20-11 over the final eight minutes.

Junction City dropped to 0-5 in the Centennial League and 3-6 overall, while Emporia improved to 4-1 and 8-2.

In girls action Junction City struggled early scoring and with turnovers,  and fell behind 17-4 after one quarter, before losing 53-31. Alana Kramer Led Junction City with 16 points as the Lady Jays fell to 2-7 on the season and 1-4 in the Centennial League.

The Junction City Blue Jays have drawn Lawrence Free State as a first-round opponent in the McPherson Invitational Basketball Tournament.

The tournament runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday January 18-20.

Junction City is currently 3-5 while Lawrence Free State has a record of 4-2.

The other pairings in the tournament include Derby vs. Wichita-Bishop Carroll, Shawnee Mission East vs. Wichita North and Blue Valley West vs. Mcpherson. The Junction City – Lawrence Free State winner will play the winner of Derby – Bishop Carroll in the winner’s bracket semifinals and the losers of those games will play in the consolation semifinals on day two of the tournament.

It was close early but Washburn Rural pulled away in the second half to defeat the Junction City Lady Jays 60-30 at the Shenk Gym Tuesday night.

The Junior Blues ( 5-1, 4-0 ) were led by Kendall Michalski with 25 points including four 3-point baskets. Carly Bachelor finished with 14 points.

Junction City ( 2-6, 1-3 ) got 12 points from Gabriela Martinez and 10 from Alana Kramer in the game. The Lady Jays play at Emporia Friday night.

The Junction City Blue Jays got a 3-point shot from the right corner from Kody Westerhaus in the closing seconds of regulation to tie the game at 43-43. But in overtime Washburn Rural hit all but one free throw to defeat Junction City 53-48 at the Shenk Gym.

The Blue Jays, as they have been in recent games, were close at the end with a chance to win but came up short.

Junction City ( 3-5, 0-4 ) got 14 points from A.J. Dickerson and 10 points from Tye Dale in the loss while the Junior Blues ( 4-3, 3-1 ) , were led by Raymond Swopes who scored 21 points including four 3-point baskets in the ballgame.

Junction City plays at Emporia Friday night.

The Junction City Blue Jays finished third in the 11-team Salina South wrestling invitational on Saturday. Salina Central captured the team title followed by Colby and then Junction City.

For the Blue Jays in the individual weight classes Max Bazan finished second at 132 pounds, Terrance Adeleye second at 182 pounds, Kenson Henderson second at 220 and Matthew Weinke second at 285 pounds. Coach Bob Laster reported that Bazan went 3-1 on the day while Adeleye, Henderson and Weinke were 4-1.

Finishing third for Junction City were Zane Thornton at 120 pounds, Logan Roether at 138, CJ Neuman at 145 and Sadiki Smith at 170 pounds. All four wrestlers went 3-2.

Capturing fourth place finishes were Matthew Whitton at 126 pounds and Russell Wilkey at 152 pounds. Whitton and Wilkey were both 2-2 in competition during the tournament.