By GREG MENGELT
JEFFERSONVILLE — Tyrone Williams scored a career-high 22 points, grabbed six rebounds and sparked two big Jeffersonville runs as the Red Devils beat Madison in Hoosier Hills Conference play, 85-50 on Saturday.
Jeff led 24-17 midway through the first half, but neither team was able to gain any momentum in a half that featured 28 turnovers, 23 fouls, 29 free throw attempts and took 47 minutes to play.
Williams then scored nine points in a two-minute span that stretched the lead to 35-19.
With Jeff leading 60-39 at the end of the third quarter, Williams put the Cubs away early in the fourth quarter when he scored eight points in the first four minutes of the quarter.
“I felt pretty good,” Williams said about his performance, which including 5 of 8 on his 3-point shooting. “I’ve been practing shooting every day. The coaches are helping me on my shot and they expect good things from me.”
“He came ready to play tonight,” senior Kegan Clark said. “He brought us energy. I have confidence that if I penetrate and kick it out to him, I feel like it’s going to go in most of the time.”
Williams’ only assist came on the first play of the fourth. On a fast break, Williams tossed the ball near the rim, where Clark grabbed it and dunked it.
With so much talent around him, the emergence of Williams — Jeff’s sophomore shooting guard — could make the Red Devils very dangerous in 2009-10, Jeff coach Tim LaGrange said.
“First of all, he may be the most improved player on this team,” LaGrange speculated. “He really started to come on this fall. I’m just happy for him.”
Williams wasn’t the only Jeff star on Saturday. A.J. Adams had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Kegan Clark added 13 points, six rebounds, three offensive rebounds, four steals and three asissts.
“I thought Kegan was much better tonight,” LaGrange said. “He played a great overall game. His shot wasn’t going down, but he helped us out in a lot of other ways.”
In the contest, Jeff forced 22 turnovers, 16 of which came in the first half. The Red Devils also allowed just 13 field goals in the win.
“We’re just trying to play aggressive, solid defense,” LaGrange said. “If we do that, turnovers are going to happen.”
After a lackluster 80-65 win over Seymour on Friday, LaGrange was much happier with the effort on Saturday.
“We wanted to see more intensity on defense and more aggressiveness,” he said. “We wanted to see more of a sense of urgency on defense. We also wanted to see good leadership from our seniors. I think we got both tonight.”
The 3-1 Red Devils have another back-to-back weekend next week. On Friday, they host 4-1 Silver Creek. On Saturday, they will host No. 1 Bloomington South. The defending state champions are 4-0 after a 54-42 win over Terre Haute North on Saturday.
MADISON 7 17 15 11—50
JEFFERSONVILLE 13 26 21 25—85
Madison (4-1, 1-1 HHC) — Malcomb 2, Yarbrough 3, Pennington 2, Hoevener 10, Jones 25, Poevelan 6, Williams 2.
Jeffersonville (3-1, 2-0 HHC) — Adams 15, Clark 13, Coleman 5, Villups 6, Jon. Ellis 11, Jor. Ellis 3, Williams 22, Maschmeyer 7, Jackson 3.
3-point field goals — Madison 3 (Hoevener, Jones, Poevelan); Jeffersonville 9 (Williams 5, Clark, Coleman, Jon. Ellis, Jackson).
Rebounds — Madison 17 (Jones 10); Jeffersonville 30 (Adams 7).
Turnovers — Madison 22, Jeffersonville 17.
