Seckman's sharp shooting leaves Jackson Indians falling in home finale

The Jackson Indians boys basketball team was defeated by the Seckman Jaguars 66-57 on Tuesday at the Jackson High School Event Center.

Senior Kole Deck led the Indians on offense with 20 points.

The first quarter went well for Jackson despite the Jaguars being perfect from three. Deck had eight in the first while a balanced offense from the other players saw the Indians up 19-18 after eight minutes.

Seckman opened the second on a 9-2 run because of some turnovers and defensive lapses by the Indians. The Jaguars continued to be on fire from three while Jackson could not find a way to stop them and trailed 39-31 at the half.

Indians head coach Kory Thoma said Seckman did many things to make it hard on his team.

“They shot the ball really well inside the paint and outside. They had seven three-pointers in the first half and that put us in a hole. I told the boys in practice, this is going to be the best help defense team that we play all year,’’ Thoma said. “They were hitting shots early. We missed some shots but we were up by one after the first quarter, but then a 21-12 second quarter put them up eight. The third quarter was very similar, we just didn't execute our game plan tonight.”

The third quarter was similar as the Jaguars began on an 8-3 run forcing the Indians into a timeout. Things did not improve as more defensive mistakes led to easy Seckman buckets and offensive opportunities for the Indians would not fall. Jackson entered the final quarter down 56-42.

Jackson brought the score a lot closer in the fourth but ultimately fell to the district foe in their final home game of the year.

Thoma said Seckman was not bigger, stronger or faster than his team but they did all of the fundamentals well.

“When you are connected as a group like they were tonight, and we were not connected on either end, it’s going to be tough,” Thomas said. “We weren’t connected in transition, we weren't connected defensively all night. We have to get better, we want to execute our game plan. We have to do it better.”

Jackson will end its regular season on Friday at Lutheran St. Charles at 4:30 p.m. before the Class 6 District 1 tournament begins on March 5.