P.S. Jones boys’ team avenged a loss to E.B. Aycock earlier in the season, but they found a way on Thursday night, defeating the Jaguars 40-36 with the help of Gary Payne’s dominant night on the glass. The Lady Demons fell to Aycock, 38-34.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Demons earned some tough baskets and possessed a 15-13 lead, but they couldn’t get enough shots to fall in the second half to maintain the advantage.

The Lady Jaguars hopped on a 6-0 run to start the half, but Triniti Burke kept the Lady Demons in the game with her rebounding and made some lay ups through contact.

Ma’khiya Boyd nailed a 3-point jumper in the third quarter that excited the crowd, but another Lady Jaguars run created separation in the final minutes of the game at the charity stripe.

Burke led the Lady Demons with nine points, Boyd had eight, Kaitlin White picked up seven, Avery Thomas scored six and Tanaja White had four.

A very competitive boys game went down to the wire as well. The Demons began the game on the front foot, jumping out to an 8-2 lead, but the Jaguars used their speed and fast breaks to get back into the game.

Khaliq Marsh’s two 3-pointers set the tone for the Demons in the first half, and Jaylen Lampkins knocked one down as well.

The Demons struggled to score in the third quarter, but Payne’s 15 offensive rebounds and seven fourth quarter points made the difference in the game.

“We have a point guard that we can give options to and I know I have teammates that can shoot it, so I just got to bring down the rebounds when they come to me. I pride myself in getting good positioning,” Payne said after his double-double performance. “We have to work on our aggressiveness and our ability to finish shots off and our decision making. We came down here in the clutch and had a few turnovers, missed a few lay ups, we can’t do that anymore.”

Payne finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds on Thursday night.

“I told them at halftime we needed to work on our aggressiveness. I really wanted to get our second group in, but we had to come out with the mentality to outwork them,” head coach Marcus Freeman said. “We just have to continue to execute and play as a team moving forward.

Payne led the team with 11 points, Lampkins and Marsh had eight, Josh Gordan picked up six, Kadir Lawrence had four and Jaquel Johnson picked up a bucket for the Demons.

P.S. Jones will return to the floor on Monday night at A.G. Cox. The girls will tip off at 4 p.m., and the boys’ game will follow.