Jose Deleon commands the offense for Spartans win

By Team Reports Feb 7, 2024, 1:36pm

Recap: Spoto Spartans vs. Jefferson Dragons

After having lost a blowout in their previous game against Hillsborough, the Spoto Spartans were happy to have found some success on Thursday. They escaped with a win against Jefferson by the margin of a single free throw, 64-63. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.

Spoto's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jose Deleon, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 14 rebounds. That makes it four consecutive games in which Deleon has scored at least a third of Spoto's points. Donovan McSwain was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with two steals.

Despite the loss, Jefferson still got an impressive performance from Lazzaro Ford, who scored 28 points. That was a full 44.4% of Jefferson's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Caleb Hiraldo, who scored ten points.

Spoto's win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 9-13. As for Jefferson, their loss dropped their record down to 9-16.

Spoto will head out on the road to challenge Freedom at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Spoto focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight on Thursday. As for Jefferson, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Chamberlain at 7:00 p.m. Chamberlain is coming into the game with six straight defeats on the road, meaning Jefferson will have to defend against a team hungry for a victory.