Jones leads Buckingham over Goochland

BUCKINGHAM - In his stellar four-year career as a member of the varsity basketball team at Buckingham County, D.J. Jones has done just about everything, including being named to all-district and all-region teams, scoring over 1,000 points, dazzling fans, teammates, coaches and even opposing teams with his deadly long-range shooting.

On Friday night, Jones continued the trend in his final regular-season home game as a Knight, scoring from everywhere on the court and leading his team to a huge 82-74 victory on senior night over visiting Goochland, which came into the game with an unblemished James River District record.

Jones scored 27 points, including 16 in the first quarter, in the finale for him and fello senior Wilson Caldwell, helping his team clinch the No. 2 seed and a home game in next week’s district tournament.

The Knights came out of the locker room sporting pink uniforms, a tribute to the school’s breast cancer awareness program that benefits the University of Virginia’s Health Center.

“My teammates depended on me to step up for my last game at home,” said Jones, who was escorted onto the floor for a pre-game ceremony by his father, David Jones, Sr., and his mother, Janet. “I wanted to get one more win in front of my family. We knew we had to win this game, so we came out focused.”

The 5-11, 183-pound senior wasted no time, scoring 13 of Buckingham’s first 15 points, including three of his four triples on the night, as the Knights jumped out to a 23-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Jones got into early foul trouble and had to sit out much of the second quarter, but lucky for Buckingham, they also had a fellow named Taylor Boyers on their side.

Boyers scored 11 of his 27 points in Jones’ absence and also pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds as the Knights led by 17 at the break.

Buckingham interim coach Reid Saeler knows how important Jones and Boyers are to the Knights’ success.

“Taylor and D.J. are amazing, they both work so hard,” he said. “They’re unselfish players, they look for the open man, but at the same time, they know when it’s time for them to take over in a game, and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Early in the second half, Goochland (14-5, 9-1 JRD) went on a 14-5 run to cut Buckingham’s lead to single digits at 53-45, but this night belonged to Jones, Boyers and the rest of the Knights.

Jones drove the lane and delivered on a nearly-impossible shot that bounced in with 56 seconds left in the third quarter to put Buckingham up 57-47, and he and Boyers would go on to combine for 19 of the team’s last 25 points to seal the victory.

Goochland cut the Knights’ lead to six with 1:17 to play, but Buckingham’s Stefan Evans hit two huge three-pointers - his only two baskets of the contest - to wrap things up. Mark Sampson led the Bulldogs with 20 points, while Brandon Henry scored 18 and Nick Morris added 13.

Buckingham (13-9, 7-3) will now get some much-needed time to rest before hosting a semifinal game in the district tournament next week.