Polk County's Khalil Watley soars to the rim for two of his 29 points during Friday's game with Chase

Chase JVs hold on to nip Polk County

February 4, 2023

Chase held off a late Polk County rally Friday, nipping the Wolverines 61-59 in a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference junior varsity boys basketball matchup at Polk.

The Wolverines dropped to 5-13 overall, 2-8 in conference play. Chase improved to 10-8.

How it happened: A nip-and-tuck battle tilted in Chase’s favor early in the fourth period. A Jonathan Collier basket gave Polk a 51-49 lead, but the Trojans scored the next seven points to grab a 56-51 advantage.

Polk battled back, with Khalil Watley’s 3-pointer with 2:11 remaining pulling the Wolverines within 58-56. Three Chase free throws pushed the lead back to five, but Watley hit another 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining to make it 61-59.

But the Trojans were able to avoid being fouled in the closing seconds, allowing Chase to escape with the win.

Scoring: Watley hit six 3-pointers and finished with 29 points, with Khristian Littlejohn connecting on five threes and scoring 19 points.

Collier added four points, with Lorenzo Sanchez scoring three and Carmello Young and Nolan Simpson each scoring two.

Next up: Polk County will begin the final week of regular-season play on Tuesday, traveling to East Rutherford.