'Jacks rally to top E.D. White, 56-52

Patterson’s senior duo of Taylan Grogan and Nehemiah Augustus caught fire in the second half to spark the Lumberjacks to a 56-52 win against E.D. White in a key District 8-3A contest Tuesday at Patterson.
Grogan scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half, while Augustus rebounded from a poor shooting first half to score 21 of his 23 points.
“They’re seniors and they’re both super competitive,” Patterson Coach Ryan Taylor said. “These kids hate to lose, and they’re gonna fight until the very end. We didn’t play well in some areas tonight, but those kids, along with D.J. Jones, are great competitors and leaders.”
Patterson trailed 22-15 at halftime, and E.D. White’s offense had the ’Jacks on their heels.
“E.D. White got into a rhythm in the first half with their half court set, and they were knocking down shots,” Taylor said.
So the ’Jacks opened the second half with full-court pressure, which changed the momentum in the game.
“We decided to go to the press just to kind of speed it up and make it an ugly game,” Taylor said. “An ugly game favors us more than it favors them. It just happened to work tonight.”
Grogan and Augustus took over in the fourth quarter with a 25-15 run to hold off E.D. White and extend Patterson’s District 8-3A lead to two games with three games to play. Patterson improved to 18-4 overall and 9-0 in district play.
“They were able to get after us defensively,” E.D. White Coach Jonathan Keife said. “I thought our guards committed some poor turnovers, which led to some easy baskets.”
But the biggest difference in the game was poor free-throw shooting for E.D. White. The Cardinals (18-4 and 7-2) were 6-of-21 from the free-throw line.
“We prepared very well for the game,” Keife said. “I thought we played well enough to win. We had a bad stretch with turnovers, but free throws changed the entire game.”
In the last 4:33 of the game, Grogan had a steal and a dunk to cut the E.D. White lead to 40-38. Augustus added a tip-in with 4:22 remaining to tie the game at 40.
Jones hit a three-pointer with 2:31 left to give Patterson a 43-40 lead.
Grogan and Augustus continued to get to the basket for layups to push the Patterson lead to 50-43 with 1:11 remaining.
E.D. White had a chance to cut into the Patterson lead in the final seconds with rare opportunity for a five-point play. Jeremy Rounds hit a 3-pointer, and Trevor Hoffman was fouled on the play. But, Hoffman missed both free throws with 18.3 seconds left to play. Augustus secured the win with two big free throws with 11 seconds left.
D.J. Jones had six points for Patterson, while Tyric Garrett scored three.
Winston Jones led E.D. White with 20 points, while Thomas Clement scored 14 and Kevin Johnson, 11.
Patterson returns to action in District 8-3A play Thursday at Erath. The game was moved from Friday to Thursday at Erath’s request. With a win, Patterson can clinch a share of the district title.