Tigers' turn: Jackson defeats Raines, recaptures Gateway Conference boys basketball title

Champion of the Northside. Champion, now, of Duval County.

But for Jackson head coach James Collins, the work is far from finished, and the ultimate goal lies far from Main Street.

"We're going to work even harder," Collins said, "and we should be state champions."

Defending doggedly and turning back the latest fourth-quarter charge by Northside rival Raines, Jackson held on 57-48 in Saturday's Gateway Conference final to lift Duval County's public high school trophy for the fifth time in seven years.

One month after beating Raines 73-51 to win the Northwest Christmas Tournament, the Tigers stretched their winning streak to 14 victories, going back to December. Against Raines, they've become a steamroller, winning the last eight meetings.

Against this year's Vikings, though, victory wasn't easy.

"We already knew their ability and what they can do," senior Jaylen Dopson said. "So we tried to focus on that and play the same way [as in the December game]."

Saturday's win adds to the hardware collection for Jackson (19-3) under Collins, named Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball 31 years ago during his playing days at the Northside school. The end goal, though, is still nearly six weeks away.

DEPTH DELIVERS FOR JACKSON

Confronted by the Vikings' towers in the paint, 6-8 Zion Kemp and 6-9 Makai Purkiss, Jackson leaned once more on its traditional standby: depth.

"We just had to play as a team together, because they had a big team," forward Ronald Durham said.

As they've done for years and years under Collins, Jackson's bench kept rolling fresh Tigers into the action. It paid off, too, from Jakauri Fisher's 3-pointer to cap the opening quarter to Tay'vion Lawson's grit in the paint through the second half.

Dopson, though not among Saturday's starting five, played starter-type minutes and several times proved crucial in containing the Vikings' athletic backcourt.

"You need the bench to step up big for you," Collins said, "and we got some big contributions from the bench today."

TIGERS THWART RAINES COMEBACK

Even after Jackson stretched its advantage into double figures, Raines — which had rallied from an 11-point hole in the final four minutes to win Friday's semifinal at Paxon — kept its hopes of a first Gateway trophy since 2005 alive for a while.

Ta'veon Dunbar, the star down the stretch on Friday, hit two free throws at the start of the fourth quarter to trim the Tigers' lead to a single score.

But after Raines missed from inside on the ensuing possession, Durham grabbed the rebound and jump-started a fast break to Octavious Lawson and then to Albert Laguerre for a layup. Following a defensive stop and a Vikings flagrant foul that sent guard Jahari Simmons to the line, Jackson never looked back.

Raines struggled to overcome foul trouble for Purkiss, who collected his third foul early in the second quarter, and committed a flurry of turnovers under the stifling Jackson pressure cooker.

Still, a Vikings (18-6) team that's more than doubled its 2022-23 win total showed once again they can stay close to Jackson. They could get another chance, maybe two, in the District 3-3A and Region 1-3A tournament next month.

Collins is already marking down areas to improve for the next challenges, whether against Raines or someone else. Miscues plagued Jackson for stretches of both halves, including goaltending and backcourt violations within a five-second span in the third quarter.

"We played all right, but this wasn't one of our better games," Collins said. "So we've got to get better at some things and come back."

DESTINATION LAKELAND FOR JACKSON?

Those words from Collins: state champions. Could this be the year?

Only Dougherty (53-52 in overtime), Creekside (59-56) and Ribault (48-45) have tamed the Tigers so far — almost a perfect season. And Jackson backers already know the feeling of playing in the FHSAA final four, qualifying for state semifinals in Lakeland in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. As of Saturday evening, the FHSAA ranks Jackson 15th in Florida and third in Class 4A, behind only Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian and Mater Lakes Academy.

The next challenge is one week away in a District 3-4A tournament that's likely to pit Jackson against a Northside rival in the final. That means either Raines for a third time or 2023 state semifinalist Ribault, led by high-scoring senior guard Caleb Williams, for a fourth meeting.

But whatever the challenge, Jackson can count on one of the city's premier big-game competitors in Durham. The senior boosted Jackson into the title game Thursday with the game-winning basket against Ribault and excelled in the fourth quarter to help stop the Raines rally.

"Games like this feel good, because it pushes us as a team," Durham said. "Later on down the road, we're going to have bigger games."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jackson defeats Raines, Gateway Conference high school boys basketball