Devils dodge late threat, secure outright title again

Jacksonville claimed the outright 5A-Central Conference title Tuesday night, but the Red Devils had to sweat out some tense final seconds to get it.

Ronnie Hinton’s three-pointer fell short at the buzzer, allowing Jacksonville to escape with a 61-58 victory over Sylvan Hills in its regular-season finale in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Devil’s Den.

“Those rivalry games are something else,” Jacksonville Coach Victor Joyner said. “Whenever we play North Pulaski and Sylvan Hills, you can throw the records out the window. It’s always intense, always a battle.

“This game was no different.”

Devin Campbell came off the bench to score 20 points for Jacksonville (23-4, 13-1), which will begin defense of its Class 5A state title next Wednesday in the state tournament at Alma High School. The Red Devils will take on the No. 4 seed from the 5A-South Conference.

Sergio Berkley, Tedric Wolfe and Kanaan Jackson all had 10 points apiece for Jacksonville. Wolfe also had 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Cordy Winston scored a game-high 20 points to lead Sylvan Hills (10-13, 4-9). Armonie Armond added 16 points. Nate Burchett finished with nine points while Hinton chipped in eight.

The Bears were eliminated from next week’s state tournament prior to the game but were in position to play spoiler on the Red Devils’ Senior Night.

Sylvan Hills battled back from a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit and trailed 59-58 with 57 seconds left in the game following David Jordan’s three-point play. Berkley hit two free throws with 26 seconds remaining to give the Red Devils a three point lead. The Bears missed two open shots on their ensuing possession but caught a break when the ball glanced off a Jacksonville defender and rolled out of bounds following a three-point attempt with four seconds left.

Hinton got behind two Jacksonville defenders on the inbounds pass and got off a clean look from the corner, but the shot came up a few inches short.

“We had a couple of nice, clean looks there at the end but they just didn’t fall for us,” Sylvan Hills Coach Kevin Davis said. “Still, the kids played with a lot of resiliency and toughness in this one, and I couldn’t have asked any more of them. That shot just didn’t fall for us.”

Jacksonville was 23 of 44 from the floor while Sylvan Hills hit 20 of 49 field-goal attempts. The Bears forced 14 turnovers and held a 30-26 rebounding edge.