Motlow Buck sophomore Jaylen Barford
The Motlow Bucks concluded the first half of their basketball season with an 80-71 win over Roane State Saturday afternoon in Harriman. The win came on the heels of a hard-fought 83-80 loss to Walters State Friday night in Morristown, the first Tennessee Community College Athletic Association loss of the season for Motlow.
The Bucks (13-3, 6-1) will now break for the winter holidays, with their next contest scheduled for Monday, Jan. 11, when the Martin Methodist College JV comes to Copperweld Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The next conference game is Friday, Jan. 15, with Southwest Tennessee coming to Lynchburg.
Motlow sophomore Jaylen Barford became only the seventh player in school history to score 1,000 points during their career with his final basket against Roane St. Saturday. Barford scored 556 points last season and now has 444 already this year. He leads the nation, averaging 27.8 points per game.
Saturday’s contest against Walters St. went right down to the wire. The Bucks trailed 82-80 with 21 seconds remaining but missed a pair of free throws that would have tied the game. Walters then hit a free throw to seal the victory.
Walters St. led 43-39 at the half and ultimately had too much depth for the Bucks to overcome. Motlow won the rebounding battle 42-34 but committed 15 turnovers. The Bucks could have won the game at the free throw line but only connected on 10-22 attempts.
Barford led Motlow in scoring with 33 points while adding four rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Darius Joell scored 23 points with five rebounds and three assists, JaQualis Matlock had nine points and eight rebounds, Jared Pearson scored eight with 11 boards, and Axel Magnuson added six points and two assists.
Saturday the Bucks shot the ball much better in their win over Roane St., connecting on 56 percent of their shots from the floor and almost 70 percent of their 26 free-throw attempts. Motlow had 18 assists on its 28 made field goals, which signals the Bucks played unselfishly and shared the basketball.
Barford was again the leading scorer and showed his all-around versatility with 29 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and one blocked shot. Stephaun Adams stepped up with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Joell scored seven and Ryan Jones had six points with four assists. Matlock pulled down eight rebounds to go along with four points, and Pearson had seven boards while scoring two points. Jade Patrick added five points and five rebounds and Reid Pierce scored five with four boards.
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