Crystal City and Windsor tipped off the Jefferson County Activities Association Boys Shootout Saturday morning at Jefferson College. The Owls beat the Hornets 63-41 in the first of six Shootout contests that’s capped by the non-conference pairing of Hillsboro vs. Saint Louis University High at 8 p.m.
Wedged between the Shootout games is the Jefferson College’s women’s basketball team hosting Illinois Central at 2 p.m. The Vikings have lost two straight and are 5-5 this season.
Jefferson wins two nail-biters in 24 hours
Led by junior Easton Null’s 28 points, Jefferson pulled away from pesky De Soto 60-53 on Saturday in the second game of the Shootout.
The Blue Jays won for the second time in less than 24 hours after beating Ste. Genevieve at home on Friday night with a last-second basket by sophomore Jon Weik. Null poured in 23 points against Ste. Gen as Jefferson improved to 4-4. Weik scored 11 points against Ste. Gen.
Jefferson athletic director Jason Dreyer took over as head coach for Nic Zenker on Tuesday in a 57-54 loss to Northwest. Dreyer has coached the Blue Jays the last three games. He was the school’s varsity girls basketball coach for three seasons before becoming athletic director.
“These guys are dealing with a lot of adversity right now,” Dreyer said. “We were down (to Ste. Genevieve) by 12 points and they just fought back and getting that win was huge for our momentum. We had that close win and came out the next morning and didn’t miss a beat.”
De Soto senior Austin West matched Null for most of the game of shooters and also finished with 28 points.