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The Daily Review/Geoff Stoute
Patterson High School’s Josiah Jennings attempts a shot during Friday’s Class 3A bi-district playoff game against Frederick A. Douglass.

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The Daily Review/Geoff Stoute
Patterson High School’s Tylon Walton pursues the basketball on defense during Friday’s first-round playoff victory against Frederick A. Douglass.

Hot second quarter keeps Patterson ahead in playoff opener

PATTERSON — A big second-quarter run by the No. 9 Patterson Lumberjacks gave the home team a comfortable lead Friday against No. 24 Frederick A. Douglass. And it proved even more valuable than it seemed at the time in the Class 3A bi-district game.
That’s because a scoring drought for much of the fourth quarter helped Frederick Douglass (14-7) erase much of the deficit before Patterson (23-8) held on for a 59-54 victory.
First-year Patterson coach Warrell Span said his squad needs to continue playing hard and needs to assemble a complete game effort.
“We just got to keep playing hard,” Span said. “We need every minute we can to win these games.”
While Patterson led just 13-11 entering the second quarter, the Lumberjacks outscored Frederick Douglass 26-11 in the second stanza for a 38-22 halftime advantage.
The scoring outburst included five three-pointers, including four accounting for the Lumberjacks’ final five baskets of the period.
Tylon Walton had two three-pointers in the quarter, while Khylin Brooks, Dedrick Gant and Dillon Gunner each had one trey.
“It was real big,” Span said of the scoring outburst, adding the team has been working in the gym on shooting, among other things, to improve.
Patterson extended its lead to as much as 51-30 with about 1:10 left in the third quarter on a basket by Louis Jones. Walton connected on another basket in the quarter, and Patterson led 53-34 after three quarters.
However, that’s when things got shaky for the home squad.
Frederick Douglass slowly began to chip away in the fourth quarter, while Patterson couldn’t get field goals or free throws to fall.
Frederick Douglass went on a 14-0 run to begin the fourth quarter.
After James Nathan made a basket to begin the quarter, the Bobcats converted a three-point play after turning a Patterson turnover into a layup by Tony Brown and ensuing free throw to cut the deficit to 53-39 with 6:47 remaining in the game.
Nathan and Alexander Henry connected on back-to-back three-pointers for Frederick Douglass for their next points to cut the deficit to 53-45 with 4:20 remaining, while Brown added a basket with about 3:40 left to trim the deficit to 53-47.
Patterson’s scoring drought finally ended when Walton connected on the second of two free-throw attempts with 3:28 left for a 54-47 Patterson lead.
“Those guys were athletic, well coached,” Frederick Douglass coach Kerwin Forges said of Patterson. “I think our guys kind of ran out of gas at the end. We obviously were just pressing a little bit, trying to make some shots and do a couple things that we’re not used to doing or not things that we practice on doing to try to get a quick bucket, but I’m very, very proud of our guys and the effort that they put in and the fight.”
The Lumberjacks’ first field goal of the quarter came about a minute later on a Kendall Francois basket with 2:30 left for a 56-48 advantage en route to the win.
“I just feel like what helped us the most is we played great defense, and it helped us from those missed throws that we had,” Span said.
However, he said they have to work on free throws. The Lumberjacks struggled mightily from the free-throw line Friday where they made just 2 of 16 attempts.
Span said the team has struggled “somewhat” at the free throw line this year, but he said it would get corrected.
“We’ll be all right, though,” he said. “I promise we’ll be all right. No questions asked.”
Josiah Jennings led Patterson with a double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds. He also had two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Other top Patterson contributors were as follows: Walton, 19 points, five assists, one rebound and one steal; Louis Jones, seven points, five rebounds and two blocks; Gunner, five points, five assists, two rebounds and one steal; Kendall Francois, four points, eight assists, two rebounds, two steals and one block; Taij Tillman, four points, one assist, four rebounds and one steal; Brooks, three points and one rebound; and Gant, three points.
Brown led Frederick Douglass with 19 points, while Nathan also reached double figures with 18 points.

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