Since Christmas, Junction City has been one of the hottest teams in the state regardless of class.
The Dragons finished the regular season with wins in 10 of their last 12 games, which also included an eight-game winning streak that helped propel Junction City to a share of the 8-2A title.
Now the Dragons are hoping that momentum will carry over into the postseason.
Tonight, Junction City (16-6) begins play in the 8-2A District Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will face the winner of Tuesday’s late game between fourth-seeded Ouachita and fifth-seeded Parkers Chapel.
Game time is set for 8:30 p.m.
The Dragons swept both the Warriors and Trojans during conference play.
Junction City topped Ouachita 60-55 at home on Dec. 5 before winning 75-57 on the road on Jan. 27.
The Dragons beat the Trojans 76-47 on the road on Jan. 9 before winning 76-43 at home on Feb. 2.
“Both teams are well-coached,” Junction City coach Xairius Larry said. “They are good at running their offense, we just try and guard them for 35 seconds.”
Junction City already has a spot in the regional tournament thanks to claiming the No. 1 seed, and Larry said he has plenty of confidence in his team.
“As we are approaching postseason play, I’m feeling pretty good about my guys,” Larry said. “We have gone and made some arrangements and adjustments and continue to do what we’ve been doing throughout the season.”
Larry credited the Dragons’ defense for their success, and the numbers bear that out.
In their 10 wins since Christmas, the Dragons have held their opponents to under 60 points, but Larry added that he would like to see improvement in other areas.
“The guys play really hard on the defensive end,” Larry said. “The only thing that concerns me is our free-throw shooting and rebounding. We haven’t done that well enough.”
Pechone Larry joined the team for the second half of the season, and he has given the Dragons another scoring option. Larry had 25 points in Junction City’s 76-43 win over Parkers Chapel before tallying 31 points in the Dragons’ overtime loss at Fordyce.
“Pechone Larry has come in playing outstanding,” Larry said. “That’s a kid who really understands basketball. He can shoot the cover off the ball. He capped off 14 3s in two of the last three games we played toward the end of the regular season. He also makes others around him better. Definitely a big help to this team.”
Larry said he moved up freshmen Zamundrae Gray, Jermaine Kennedy and Jeremiah King to give the Dragons more depth.
“I moved three ninth-graders up and two of them could possibly help us out in some way,” Larry said.
Junction City came out ahead on tiebreakers to claim the top seed for the district tournament, and for the Dragons to continue their success, Larry said there were several keys.
“Going into the district tournament, our keys to success will be defending at a high level without committing silly fouls, rebounding the ball and making free throws,” Larry said. “We do those three things and we’ll be fine.”