motivates

Tigers

By Josh Bean

FAYETTE &8212; Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden once called the bench one of the game&8217;s most effective motivators.

Jefferson County coach Marcus Walton proved Wooden&8217;s theory on Tuesday night.

Walton benched his starters midway through the third quarter as the Tigers nursed a 10-point lead against Richland, a team that had not won a Region 6-3A game all season.

Jefferson County&8217;s reserves maintained the lead, and the starters opened the fourth quarter with a 13-0 run en route to a 74-46 victory.

&8220;I must commend my bench, because they went in and did exactly what I asked of them,&8221; Walton said. &8220;Those other guys, the starters, saw that what I was telling them to do what right. They needed to see that.

&8220;It was just a wake-up call. I&8217;m trying to get them to play every possession like we&8217;re in the district tournament.&8221;

What did Walton say to his starters?

&8220;Coach sat us down and gave us a little talk, saying &8216;If the starters can&8217;t do it, who can?&8217; &8221; Turner said. &8220;We just had to get back out there and do what we had to do. You can&8217;t slack.&8221;

Jefferson County built a 12-point halftime lead, at 38-26, but the Tigers failed to extend the lead throughout the third quarter.

Richland&8217;s Eric Brown hit a 12-foot jumper at the third quarter buzzer to cut the deficit to 48-39 &8212; the first time the Jefferson County lead had been in single digits since midway through the second period.

The Rangers had a chance to cut the lead further, but Brown missed two free throws and T.J. Bradford&8217;s 3-pointer bounced off the back of the rim in the opening 10 seconds of the fourth period.

Fresh off the bench, Jefferson County&8217;s starters scored 13 points in just 1:28 to put the game out of reach.

&8220;That&8217;s the first time we&8217;ve played like that all year,&8221; Turner said.

Turner scored 21 points, including four 3-pointers in the second quarter, to lead four Jefferson County (12-10, 6-6) players in double figures. Joseph Kemp added 14 points, while Kenneth Lowe contributed 13 and Kadon Day had 10.