The Cleburne Yellow Jackets beat Burleson, 62-48, on Friday night at Yellow Jacket Gym to move to 2-7 in District 7-A play. Burleson fell to 2-7 in league play with the loss.

Cleburne was led by Conner Martyniuk who finished with 19 points and Vince Maes, who also finished with 19. Turner Schwarz led Burleson with 14 points.

Despite being outshot at the foul line by double-digits, the Jackets were able to exploit Burleson’s interior defense with slashing drives by Martyniuk and Maes.

“I think that helped us a ton,” Cleburne Head Coach Travis Edwards said. “I thought our guys, for a while, were relying on what we felt comfortable with like Vince shooting a 3-pointer or Pete [Black] saying in the short corner.

“I told them we need to make them respect that we will try to get to the basket. They were collapsing on Conner so that’s why we had three or four shooters out there and our 3-point percentage went up. We maintained our focus and got a good result.”

After Burleson scored the first basket, Cleburne went on a 7-0 run which was capped off by a banked-in 3-pointer from Maes and a bucket by Kameron Pickett.

Burleson pulled to within 7-6, but Martyniuk drilled a straightaway 3-pointer to put the Jackets back in front by four, 10-6.

A three-point play by Lance Forehand made it 10-9 and another basket made it 11-10 before Adam Kirk found Pete Black down low for the go-ahead bucket.

Burleson’s Chad Stewart swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter, but the shot was waved off because of a traveling violation.

After falling behind, 14-12, by three free throws from Schwarz, Cleburne regained the advantage with a 7-2 run.

During the spurt, Martyniuk drilled a 3-pointer and Trenton Holmes muscled a bucket up and in while being fouled.

Holmes missed the free throw, but Cleburne maintained a three-point lead.

The advantage was short-lived as Schwarz buried another 3-pointer to tie the game at 19-19.

A traveling violation on Burleson gave Cleburne the ball back and Elks Head Coach Ted Tomchesson showed his displeasure by kicking a chair along the sideline.

Schwarz gave Burleson a brief two-point lead on a putback, but Vince Maes tied the game back up with a slashing drive on Cleburne’s next possession.

“Our guys were focused,” Edwards said. “We have practiced very efficiently and we came through tonight in everything we did. Our man-to-man defense was good and our offense was good

“I thought we were patient and we got the shots we wanted. Our shooting percentage was way up in the mid 40s. We just need to do what we practice and we finally did it tonight.”

On the Elks’ ensuing possession, Schwarz drove to the basket hard and the resulting collision left him along with Cleburne’s Holmes and Kirk writhing on the floor in pain.

Schwarz made both free throws but Maes cut to the hoop again to tie the game at 23-23.

Black gave the Jackets the lead back with a mid-range baseline jumper.

The teams ended the first half tied, 25-25. Burleson outshot Clebune from the line, 14-2, in the first half.

Nathan Johnson keyed a 6-2 run for Burleson to start the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers. Vince Maes scored for Cleburne in between the treys.

Martyniuk had back-to-back driving layups to tie the game and Maes hit another 3-pointer to give Cleburne the lead again, but Burleson responded with back-to-back buckets as the seesaw affair continued.

Maes drilled a key 3-pointer as the third quarter wound down to give Cleburne a five-point lead.

A layup by Maes and a 3-pointer by Pickett gave Cleburne a 49-40 lead before Schwarz connected from deep to draw the Elks within six.

Black finished with 12 points for Cleburne and six rebounds. Pickett finished with six points.