Louisville high school boys basketball: Seneca holds off Jeffersontown

Seneca boys basketball pulls away from Jeffersontown in final minute, wins 75-70 Phillip Steinmetz View Comments Seneca boys basketball coach Josh Leslie quickly realized at the beginning of the fourth quarter that it was going to be difficult for his team to pull out a victory on the road at Jeffersontown. His star guard, senior Delshawn Simms, fouled out roughly two minutes into the final period. With Simms on the bench for almost the entire fourth quarter, two other senior guards stepped up in Darian Floyd and Bryon Cox Jr., to lead Seneca to a 75-70 victory on Tuesday night. “We’re playing the whole time without our best player with Delshawn picking up fouls, we’re just trying to battle through all that,” Leslie said. “It basically came down to being able to handle them and playing a little more attack mode on defense.” Floyd didn’t hesitate to shoot the ball early as he made a pair of 3-pointers from almost the half court logo in the first quarter. J’town guard Will Vasser paced the Chargers with 9 first quarter points to score almost half of their points. Vasser continued his hot streak with 17 first half points as the two teams combined for 10 3-pointers through two quarters. More: Anderson County girls roll past Mercy to move to 14-0, back up No. 1 state ranking “I was hot,” Floyd said. “My teammates kept telling me to shoot it, so I just kept shooting it.” J’town controlled the pace in the first half and sped Seneca up to force turnovers which turned into transition baskets or free throw opportunities on the other end. Seneca used the halftime break to make adjustments and went on a 11-2 run behind a pair of Simms 3-pointers which turned into a 45-40 lead to start the third quarter. Floyd converted his third 3-pointer of the game on Seneca’s following possession to give his team, at the time, its largest lead of the game at six points. The Chargers used a 12-5 run to take a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. J’town senior forward Zavion Jackson scored eight points in the third quarter alone as he took advantage of the shorter Seneca defenders to grab offensive rebounds and score in the paint. The final quarter saw both teams struggle to score at the beginning as Floyd made the first field goal of the period with 5:10 left in the game with another 3-pointer. “We don’t have any time to work on situational basketball because we’re playing so many games,” Leslie said. “We don’t have time to clean things up in practice. We’re pretty much one of those teams right now that basically has to learn on the fly.” ‘He was a warrior’: Branden Northern returns from injury, leads Silver Creek to win J’town led 57-56 with about four minutes remaining but then Seneca went on a 6-0 run to retake a lead it wouldn’t give up again. J’town had a chance to cut the lead down the stretch but Cox. Jr. converted on an and-1 opportunity after missing a pair of free throws earlier then blocked a 3-point attempt to maintain the lead and eventually pull out the victory for Seneca. “I just had to take my time,” Cox Jr. said. “I’ve been making free throws for a long time; I just rushed the first two.” SENECA 18 16 19 21 – 75 JEFFERSONTOWN 19 19 16 17 – 70 Seneca (3-2) – Darian Floyd 20, Marcel Railey 5, Delshawn Simms 11, Azzon Gibson 2, Bryon Cox Jr. 19, Wes Bonner 12, Jordan Harrison 6. Jeffersontown (13) – Jaylen Jones 2, Drae Vasser 14, Xavier Price 12, Will Vasser 19, Zavion Jackson 15, Casey Steadmon 8. Staff Directory Careers Accessibility Support Site Map Legals Our Ethical Principles Terms of Service Privacy Policy Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Info / Cookie Policy