Dragons defeat Commerce, prepare for Union Co.

Chalk up another win for Jefferson in the ongoing rivalry between the Dragons and the Commerce Tigers. It was the tenth straight win in as many meetings for Jefferson as they won their fourth game in a row this season.

Next up for the Dragons is a trip to Union County on Friday to face the Panthers in the last game before Christmas break. Jefferson hopes to ride a wave of momentum into the match up as they continue to get the kinks worked out of their game prior to region play.

Tip-off Friday night is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.

At the outset last week, it appeared that Jefferson might be in a little trouble as the Commerce Tigers moved out to a 10-3 lead late in the first quarter.

The Dragons went to work with two minute remaining in the quarter, and by the end, had tied the game 10-10. From that mark on, Jefferson played hard and fast and by the halftime mark, the Dragons held a commanding 31-14 lead.

But they seemed to lose their momentum in the second half.

“In the second half, we played lethargic,” said coach Bolling DuBose. “We didn’t play well on either end of the floor and we gave up way too many shots on the defensive end. They ended up hitting nine threes on the game.

Offensively, we played very sporadically. We’d play well for a few minutes, then we’d play poorly for a few minutes.”

Regardless, Jefferson was able to hang on for a 58-46 win over the Tigers.

Darius Minor led the Dragons in scoring with 15 points, while Renel Woods scored nine, Cody Smith scored nine, and Chris Beck scored seven.

Beck led Jefferson in rebounds with seven, while Woods had six.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.