Jones, Seely Each Score 15 to Lead Nogales Past Kennedy

Lawrence Jones and Paul Seely each scored 15 points Tuesday night to lead Nogales High School to a 69-59 victory over Kennedy in a Southern Section 3-A second-round game in front of 700 at Rowland High.

The Fighting Irish couldn’t stop Jones, Seely or 6-foot 9-inch Bruce Wheatley, who added 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Kennedy made a brief run at the Nobles early in the fourth quarter when it cut Nogales’ lead to six points, 54-48, with six minutes to play. But the 6-4 Seely made two baskets and two free throws to increase Nogales’ lead to 10.

The Nobles took control of the game in the second quarter when they started to run away from Kennedy.

Twelve consecutive Nogales points at the start of the second quarter put the Nobles ahead, 30-19. Jones scored five points in that three-minute spurt.

With 2:20 left in the half, Wheatly stole a pass and raced the length of the court for a dunk. The basket increased the Nobles’ lead to 37-23, their biggest of the half.

Kennedy (20-6), a co-champion of the Empire League, was led by Walter Lauderdale, who scored 20 points and had a team-high 9 rebounds. Teammate Jeff Green added 12 points.

Nogales, the second-place representative from the Sierra League, improved its record to 22-6.