On Friday the Swain Maroon Devils traveled to Clay county to take on the Hayesville Yellow Jackets. The  Devils entered the competition 1-1 while the Yellow Jackets entered the competition 2-1. This game was an important early season matchup for conference positioning. The Maroon Devils were coming off a big surprise win over their rival Cherokee. Many coming into this game thought that this could be the first of many close conference games in what should be a highly contested mens smoky mountain conference this year.

Hayden McClure finishes strong on the fast break.

The game got off to a rough start for the Yellow Jackets with one of their starting guards and their sixth man who came in for him getting two first quarter fouls each. Yet through that adversity Hayesville went to their big man Jake McTaggert early and often as its becoming a habit for team with good reason. McTaggert responded with nine first quarter points with Hayesville having a total of fourteen for the quarter. This gave the Jackets an early game lead of fourteen to thirteen. 

The Jackets were not satisfied with their one point lead coming into the second quarter and regardless of several of their key players on the bench with foul trouble they exploded for thirty two second quarter points. This came from several different players including their leader and point guard Kolbe Ashe who had twelve second quarter points. Ashe while only a sophomore is a consummate leader rarely coming off the floor for the Jackets in key situations. He leads the offense getting them into the correct plays and plays with calmness of player well beyond his years. With that said the star of the second quarter was undoubtedly Junior Eli Roberts. Playing in what were some of his first important varsity minutes of his career while two of his teammates were in foul trouble. Roberts found some shooting confidence scoring all seven of his career high in points for the game in the second quarter even hitting two key free throws in a one and one situation. The Jackets with their best scoring quarter of the year took a 48-28 lead into the half.

Jake McTaggert hits one of his 5 threes.

The Jackets came out in the third quarter with much of the same scoring punch going back to their 6’7” big man McTaggert early in the third quarter. While many would think that means pounding it inside Hayesvilles big man showed the crowd a new wrinkle to his game hitting three third quarter threes. This coupled with Hayesvilles intense defensive pressure holding the Maroon Devils to only eight third quarter points all but assured them victory by the end of the third quarter with a twenty nine point lead. Coming into the 4th quarter getting many of their reserves in the game Hayesville continued to crank down on the vice that was their defense only allowing four fourth quarter points. Finishing strong the Jackets were able to close out the Maroon Devils winning 79-40.

The Jackets will next take the court at Murphy on Thursday December 19th for an 8:00 tip against the Murphy Bulldogs. The Jackets will be looking for some early season revenge after being upset by the Bulldogs in last years conference tournament. Remember to tune in to all the latest coverage of Yellow Jacket Basketball with FYN sports on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at https://claync.fetchyournews.com/category/teamfynsports/.