Elijah Span introduced himself to varsity basketball Friday night.
Jacksonville’s sophomore center was two rebounds shy of a double-double and led the Titans with 28 points in their 63-47 season-opening win over Pine Bluff High School at the Jack Robey campus. Yet, nothing he did took 10th-year Zebras Coach Billy Dixon by surprise.
“We’ve been watching him all summer,” Dixon said. “He’s a good player who crashes the board extremely hard. That’s what he did the second half that truly made a difference in this ballgame.”
Span was the only Titan scoring in double digits. He scored 16 points in the first half as Jacksonville (1-0) clung to a 31-27 halftime lead.
“That kid has a chance to be really, really special,” second-year Jacksonville Coach Marcus Adams said. “One thing we just talked about with him is his motor and his activity. He showed the way he can play on both ends of the floor with his activity and his effort. This is a step in the right direction for him.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The game was a homecoming for Adams, a 2003 Pine Bluff graduate and former coach at Watson Chapel.
Pine Bluff junior Quentin Adams scored 21 points and totaled 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Adams made his first eight free throws and finished 10 for 13 from the stripe.
The Titans survived a frenzied pace against a young Zebras team (1-1) fresh off its opening win at home over Watson Chapel on Tuesday. They overcame a 1-for-7 shooting slump from the floor to finish 27 for 58 (46.6%), while Pine Bluff was held to 15 for 37 (40.5%).
“We always talked about, even though we can’t make shots, just try to control the defensive end of the floor,” Adams said. “We needed this physicality because we had a scrimmage game against West Memphis, and they just out-physicaled us with toughness. I just thought we responded the right way today.”
Pine Bluff went on a 12-4 run going into the fourth quarter to draw within 45-41 before Span scored the Titans’ next three baskets from the floor, including a two-hand jam.
Senior Malik Terry added 7 points, and sophomore Braylon Turner and senior Trevion Thorns each had 6 for Pine Bluff. For Jacksonville, sophomore Davyon Parker and junior Cameron Muhammad each dropped in 8 points.
“Tonight was the first time we had our point guard, Malik Terry. That made a tremendous difference for us in how we executed,” Dixon said. “He’s a heck of an on-ball defender and he takes care of the ball for us offensively. He does a lot of stuff that wouldn’t show up on the stat sheet, but we would not function as well as we did if he were not on the court.”
Pine Bluff will take an early-season two-week break before facing Little Rock Parkview at the latter’s Patriot Classic on Nov. 28.
GIRLS: Jacksonville 55, Pine Bluff 15
D’arah Tippitt scored 16 points and Angel Wesley had 12 in leading the Titans (1-1) to a 40-point win over the Fillies (1-2), who had just beaten Little Rock Hall on Thursday.
Khanzis McDonley led Pine Bluff with 5 points.
The Fillies will play at Little Rock Mount St. Mary’s tournament against the host team at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
