Deck drops 22, top-seeded Jackson downs Oak Ridge 82-20 in Christmas Tournament opener

Jackson's all-state forward Kole Deck and his teammates rarely shot from beyond the arc Thursday morning in the opening game of the 2024 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.

The way he and the Indians were getting to the basket, there was no need.

Deck scored a game-high 22 points, most of them off dunks and layups, as top-seeded Jackson overpowered Oak Ridge with its front-line advantage to dominate the No. 16 seed 82-20.

Once the Indians (8-2) started pushing the pace and attacking the basket right out the gate, there was no slowing them.

“We're a younger team this year,” Deck said. “Our game plan for today was just get out in transition and run a regular team. So, I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

Indeed it did.

Jackson took full advantage of its height mismatch and used its physicality to force 22 turnovers that set up a plethora of transition dunks and easy fast-break layups.

Deck led the way, scoring each of his 22 points in the paint. Junior guard Walker Matthews had nine points and five assists, repeatedly finding Deck free underneath. Senior Gavin Alspaugh had a big second half, draining a pair of 3s to finish with eight points.

The Indians came out hot and built an 18-4 lead in the first eight minutes before cruising to a 36-10 lead at the break. Deck’s slam dunk midway through the second quarter, followed by junior Ty Forest’s 3-pointer with 50 seconds left, set the tone.

“I told the boys we played really good Friday leading against Festus when we were really connected defensively and offensively,” head coach Kory Thoma said. “It’s 9:00 in the morning. We had a shootaround at 7:00 and it's hard to get up for a game like this. Not saying that Oak Ridge is bad, but we weren't as crisp on our defense and shooting in the first half, but that’s to be expected a little bit. I thought in the second half we picked up the pace and tempo. We were connected better.”

Jackson sprinted to a 16-2 run to break open the second half before Oak Ridge sophomore Noah Engler’s 3-pointer quenched the scoring drought. That’s until Matthews responded with a 3 of his own on the ensuing possession.

Alspaugh’s late corner 3 and 6-foot-7 freshman Jon Ernst’s slam dunk with 40 seconds left in the fourth put the icing on the cake for the Indians.

Since falling to Cape Central — the No. 2 seed in the Christmas Tournament — in the SEMO Conference Tournament semifinals Dec. 12, Jackson has won four straight, outscoring its opponents by 28.3 points per game along the way.

“We're a young team, like I said,” Deck said, “so the more games we get under our belt, the better we're going to be.”

Jackson will take on the winner of No. 8 Oran and No. 9 Chaffee in the quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Show Me Center. Oak Ridge (2-7) will look to bounce back against the loser of Oran-Chaffee at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the first round of consolations.