The Jena Giants were busy this past week as they played three games and got one big blowout win in the process.
On Tuesday, February 10, the Grant Cougars came to town in another non-district contest. The Giants would come into the game on a two-game losing streak and were looking to get back in the win column. The Giants would get off to a good start as they would end the 1st quarter on a 14-2 run to take a 21-7 lead into the 2nd quarter. Both teams would struggle to score in the 2nd quarter and the Giants would go into halftime leading 25-12.
The Giants would play well in the 2nd half as they would lead throughout and go on to win 59-41.
In the game for the Giants Zac Brown had 21 points, Brittain Johnson had 10 points, Daniel Hatcher had 8 points, Xavier Brown had 8 points, Titan Smith had 4 points, Gus Morphis had 3 points, Silas Powell had 3 points, and Zadrien Cooper had 2 points.
With the win, the Giants improved to 12-5 on the season. On Wednesday night, February 11, the Giants would play a make-up game with Tioga. This game was supposed to be played a couple of weeks ago but due to the ice storm it had to be rescheduled. Tioga is one of the best teams in the state and they would prove to be tough as they would go on to beat the Giants 73-37.
On Friday, February 13, the Giants would finish up district play against the Marksville Tigers. Marksville is also one of the best teams in the state with a 22-4 record and the #1 ranking in the Division III Non-Select. The Tigers won the state championship two years ago and were runners-up last year. But the Giants would have confidence as two years ago they would go to Marksville and get the win.
This would be a good one in the first half as the two teams exchanged the lead back and forth. The Giants would play hard and would go into halftime only trailing by 5 at 35-30.
In the 2nd half, Marksville would pick up the defensive intensity as they would contest every shot and make it very difficult on the Giants. Marksville would go on to win 77-49 and showed why they are the number one team in their division.
In the game for the Giants, Xavier Brown had 10 points, Zac Brown had 8 points, Zadrien Cooper had 8 points, Brittain Johnson had 8 points, Titan Smith had 7 points, Daniel Hatcher had 5 points, and Gus Morphis had 3 points.
The Giants are now 12-7 on the season and are currently ranked #13 in the power rankings. The Giants still have a great chance to host a playoff game in the 1st round with a week of the regular season left to play.
We will have you covered on all of the Giants playoff games. You can listen on 102.7 KJNAFM. You can also download the MIXLR app and search for KJNAFM or go online at www.mixlr.com/kjnafm.
This week’s Giants sports page is sponsored by CLB The Community Bank.
