Spalding High School boys basketball coach Cecil Spear was impressed with his team’s performance during the first 30 minutes of Tuesday’s 39-37 loss to Southwest Macon at home. The final two minutes, however, were a different story.

With less than three minutes remaining in the game, the Jaguars (0-1 overall) held a 37-34 lead, but missed rebounds and two unforced Spalding turnovers allowed the Patriots to come out on top.

“We led them the whole ball game, but we didn’t do a good job of finishing,” Spear said.

Spalding made just six field goals in the second half, and shot 36 percent from the field for the game.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well last night, and I was disappointed with that,” Spear added.

 While Spalding’s offense stumbled in the final minutes of the season opener, Spear said he was pleased with his team’s defensive performance. The Patriots scored 50 points in both meetings against Spalding last season, but the Jaguars were able to hold Southwest Macon to its lowest point total in two seasons.

“We played decent defense,” Spear said. “We were able to hold our opponents to 39 points, however they held us to 37, so they played pretty good defense themselves.”

Following Tuesday night’s game, Spear said he wanted his team to focus on the next game rather than concentrate on the loss.

Spalding travels to Luella (0-3) tonight for the Jaguars’ first road game of the season and returns home on Saturday to face Heritage (2-2)

The Jaguars were without junior center Brandon Gaughren on Tuesday night, but Spear said he expects him to be back for tonight’s game against Luella.

The Lions have lost their first three games of the season by an average of more than 16 points, including a 94-68 loss to Dutchtown in their season opener on Nov. 17.

“We’ll match up well with them. We just have to make sure we don’t get out of focus up there,” Spear said. “The main thing for us is just to concentrate on what we do and get better at doing that.”