The Basketball Tournament’s Cinderella Story – the Jackson Underdawgs – were eliminated in their second round game 70-50, to ‘Always A Brave,’ at the Peoria Civic Center, Monday.
“It didn’t end the way we wanted,” Jewuan Long said, “We weren’t disciplined down the stretch, and (Always A Brave) didn’t get away from themselves. We made mistakes offensively and defensively, and put ourselves in a bad situation.”
Fresh off a 64-58 upset of No. 2 seed House of ‘Paign, Saturday, the No. 15 seed Underdawgs wilted in the fourth quarter, which saw ‘Always A Brave’ outscore Jackson, 21-6.
“It was a good experience, but that team that beat us by 20 points is not 20 points better than we are,” said Dexter Williams, Jackson Underdawgs head coach, ” We played out of character, and (Always A Brave) is a veteran team. I told our team they will burn you because of mistakes.”
Always a Brave made 16 of the 23 foul shots they attempted, while the free throw line was somewhat foreign to the Underdawgs, who missed their only two attempts in the game.
Marquis Weddle led the Underdawgs in scoring with 11 points.
Jackson outrebounded its taller opponent 39-36, but could not overcome a game-high 18 points from Darrell Brown Jr., and nine from Patrick O’Bryant.
