Logan men hold off Three Rivers, 106-89

CARTERVILLE -- It's not a truly good piece of theater if the good guys don't face some adversity during their adventure.
The John A. Logan College men's basketball team was cruising in Tuesday night's game against Three Rivers, but the Raiders went on a furious charge in the second half and got within single digits.
The good guys didn't panic.
Logan held off the rally and got big shots from a long list of players down the stretch to close out a 106-89 victory in front of an entertained crowd at Brewer Gymnasium.
"A good team is going to make runs and you just have to be resilient," said Logan coach Kyle Smithpeters, whose team is now 2-0. "I did feel we let our energy drop a little. We were fouling more and not moving our feet. But that's a good basketball team we faced. They didn't quit when they had a chance to quit."
Vonnie Patterson and Jayden Scrubb both had 27 points and 10 rebounds for Logan, which had four players in double figures. Tristan Jarrett scored 23 points for Three Rivers, which fell to 1-2.
The Volunteers led 57-35 at the half but saw the lead chipped down to 81-72 with 7-1/2 minutes left.
Patterson stopped the bleeding with a silky fadeaway jumper, then moments later Scrubb scored a breakaway layup off a football-style pass from David Sloan -- arguably the prettiest of his 14 assists.
It was Logan's next possession, while holding an 87-76 lead, that might have settled things.
Sloan missed a 3-point attempt but Patterson pulled down an offensive rebound. Then Scrubb took a shot an missed, but Antwan Campbell put back the miss and absorbed a foul. He sank the free throw to give the Vols a 14-point lead with 5:44 remaining.
"Antwan just plays so hard," Smithpeters said. "He energizes our group and they respect him so much because he plays so hard. He gets the most out of his abilities."
Sloan dazzled with a 3-pointer at the end of a shot clock and later with a pull-up jumper to help Logan reach the century mark. The sophomore All-American finished with 19 points to go with those 14 assists.
Patterson, the returning sophomore captain and Scrubb, the highly-touted freshman, also recorded double-doubles. Scrubb, who again battled foul trouble, was particularly spectacular in the final minutes to close out the win.
"Jay is as talented as any guy we've seen in a long time," Smithpeters said. "He's a freshman and he has to learn to play without fouling."
Jonah Jackson hit four 3-pointers and added 13 points. Quamain Nelson and Campbell both added seven points. Chris Harris, Mark Lancaster and Will Keller had two points apiece. Marion's Justin Saddoris spelled the point guards admirably in the first half but did not score.
"We're not going to have trouble scoring the basketball. We just have to get that same mentality defensively," Smithpeters said. "We can get a lot better than what we are."
Logan plays two games at Vincennes over the weekend against East Mississippi and Lincoln Land, then hosts Vincennes on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.