Jimmies make it nine straight

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The next games the Jimmie men will play will be in the sun and sand of Florida, but it won’t be all fun and games with two ranked teams to play.

Their last game before the trip was not a banner one, but it was another win — their ninth in a row — 87-60 over pesky Trinity Bible College here Wednesday night.

Coach Matt Murken was not pleased with the play of his 14th ranked team, but it was another win, their 10th of the season.

“Regardless of who you’re playing or what the scoreboard says, the challenge is to give great effort and come off the court feeling like you worked hard and improved yourself,” he said. “We did not do that tonight.”

The Jimmies were never in any jeopardy of losing, but sharp-shooting Trinity Bible College wing Barry Bighorn made it interesting for a little while.

Bighorn poured in 30 points, including a blistering 7 of 8 from three-point range, to give the lively Lions’ followers something to holler about it.

“We failed to make in-game adjustments against a guy that was shooting the lights out,” Murken said. “He (Bighorn) played his tail off. Good for him. But we didn’t adjust at all to what he was doing.”

The rest of the Lions only scored 30 points, but as a team they made 12 of their 17 threes.

They got within 23-21 with 8:50 left in the first half, but the Jimmies slowly pulled away. Two triples by B.J. Mertens late in the first half helped push the lead to 44-33 at the break. They scored nine of the first 11 points of the second half, to push the lead over 20 where it stayed for the rest of the night.

“Our upperclassmen who have been through the battles understand what it takes game-in and game-out to be successful,” Murken said. “Travis (Burley) had a double-double. Byron (Jones) scores 16 points and holds a guy (Mikey Rosario) who was averaging 26 points to 13. B.J. (Mertens) has 9 points and 8 assists.

“Some of our younger guys are still learning what we need each game. Just in terms of being more consistent, particularly when we’re in a situation where we’re playing back-to-back games or in this situation 3 games in 4 days.”

They did get a nice spark off the bench from freshman Luke Preiner, who poured in 16 points and made four of the Jimmies’ 12 threes.

“Luke came in and really did a nice job for us,” Murken said.

Luke’s twin brother Drew had 14 points, while Davon Thomas, another potent JC reserve, added 10.

The Jimmies head for Lakes Wales, Fla., on Dec. 14. They play No. 16 Southeastern, Fla., on Dec. 17 and 18th-ranked Warner, Fla., Dec. 19.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us because they are both really good teams,” Murken said. “We’re going to have to play better than we did tonight without question.”

Jamestown College 87, Trinity Bible College 60

Trinity Bible College 33 27 — 60

Jamestown College 44 43 — 87

Presentation College: Barry Bighorn 30, Pete Enos 2, Mikey Rosario 13, David Rohrbach 2, Kris Lauder 6, Alan 3, Josh Bialik 4. Totals: 18-50 FG, Three-pointers: 12-17 (Bighorn 7, Rosario 2, Lauder 2, Usher), 12-16 FT, 30 Rebounds (Rosario 5, Nick Lentz 5), 16 Fouls, 13 Assists (Enos 3), 23 Turnovers, 5 Steals (Usher 2).

Jamestown College: Travis Burley 17, Brandon Robbins 2, Byron Jones 16, B.J. Mertens 9, Drew Preiner 14, Davon Thomas 10, Luke Preiner 15, Jared Sutherland 4. Totals: 31-70 FG, Three-pointers: 12-32 (L.Preiner 4, Mertens 3, D.Preiner 3), 13-18 FT, 44 Rebounds (Burley 11), 17 Fouls, 20 Assists (Mertens 8, Jones 6, 2 Blocked shots (2 with 1), 14 Steals (Mertens 4, Jones 4).

Records: Jamestown College 10-3; Trinity Bible College 6-5.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jimmies, basketball, men