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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

HEFLIN – The Vincent Yellow Jackets walked away with two wins at the Cleburne County holiday tournament Dec. 27-29, going 2-1with wins against Munford and Ohatchee.

The Jackets took their opener in dominant fashion against Munford before losing to host team Cleburne County and then bouncing back with another dominant win against Ohatchee to close out the three-day tournament.

In the opening game against Munford, the Jackets used strong defense to propel their success offensively.

They held Munford to single digits in all but one quarter, including the first two quarters of the game.

Vincent opened the game on a 14-4 run in the opening quarter and didn’t slow down in the second quarter.

From there, the Yellow Jackets went on a 16-1 run to take a 30-5 lead late in the first half before a quick spurt from Munford made it 32-11 at the halftime break.

Munford started the second half on an 11-6 run to cut the deficit to 16 points, but outscoring Vincent 14-8 in the quarter wasn’t enough to climb back into the game.

Vincent took a 40-25 lead to the final quarter of play and used the defense once again to close out a 50-34 victory.

Blake Allums led the Jackets with 15 points in the win, while Tray Youngblood totaled 12 points and seven steals. Ty’Qun Goodman added 11 rebounds and six points in the win, while Jermarey Lawson and Skyler McCrimon each had eight.

Against host Cleburne County in the second game of the tournament, Vincent got off to a strong start in the opening half.

The Jackets jumped out to an 11-5 lead late in the first quarter, but the Tigers responded with a 3-0 run to end the quarter, which carried into the second period.

Cleburne added four more points in a row to start the second quarter, which gave the team its first lead since 2-0.

Vincent bounced back with a 7-2 run to take an 18-14 lead late in the second quarter, but Cleburne responded by fighting back to tie the game at 20-20.

A late 3-pointer, however, gave the Jackets a 23-20 lead going into the break.

The second half, however, saw Cleburne completely flip the momentum.

The Tigers outscored Vincent 18-8 in the third quarter to storm in front 38-31 going to the final quarter of play.

Vincent was able to bounce back in a more evenly matched final period, but it wasn’t enough, as the third quarter led to Cleburne County picking up a 49-43 victory.

Youngblood led the way with 18 points, while Goodman finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the loss.

The Yellow Jackets then came back a day later and responded with what worked well in the opening game of the tournament—defense.

Taking on Ohatchee, Vincent held the Indians to seven points or less in every quarter of the game.

The Jackets also started slow on the offensive side as well, which led to a 7-7 tie at the end of the first quarter.

That low-scoring battle actually carried well into the second quarter, and it even saw Ohatchee take a 9-7 lead midway through the period.

From there, however, Vincent finished the half on a 12-4 run to take a 19-13 lead into the break.

The Jackets never looked back the rest of the way, scoring 14 in the third quarter and 23 in the final quarter to pull away for the 56-36 victory.

Vincent outscored the Indians 37-13 in the second half.

Youngblood, Lawson and Goodman all finished in double figures with Youngblood posting 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the team in both categories.

Lawson added 16 points and six rebounds, while Goodman posted 12 points and six rebounds.

Vincent is now 7-8 on the season heading into the second half.