White Oak sophomore C.J. Jackson playing with more confidence in second varsity season

C.J. Jackson set the tone early by cleaning up the glass.

The sophomore scored White Oak's first three baskets on putbacks en route to scoring 19 of his 23 points in the first half in a 69-54 boys' basketball victory over Swansboro on Friday.

And for good measure, Jackson ended with eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

His effort was key for the Vikings (13-4, 3-1) as they moved into sole possession of second place in the Coastal 3-A Conference with the win over the Pirates (13-3, 3-2). And White Oak coach Chris Grimes does hide the fact that he will continue to rely on Jackson in the Vikings' league title quest.

“C.J. started last year as a freshman for us,” Grimes said. “That’s huge, but it also came with a huge learning curve. He did well last year, but this year we needed him be to that 1-2 punch with Zack Noel. The last few weeks, C.J. has really showed he can be that.”

The 6-foot, 150-pound Jackson enters Wednesday’s conference game at home against Dixon (5-12, 0-4) as the Vikings’ second-leading scorer with 12.5 points per game to go along with 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals.

Last year, he averaged 10.6 points, five rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals. But while Jackson has been a steady player in his first two varsity seasons, he has elevated his game more in recent games.

Jackson had 27 points and four assists in a 61-57 loss at West Carteret on Jan. 10, added 15 points and six rebounds in a 53-46 victory over Croatan on Jan. 12 and had 17 points, five assists and four rebounds in a 38-21 win over Jacksonville on Jan. 16.

“I think that I am playing with more confidence,” Jackson said. “My defense and my shooting have improved and I think I am just doing a lot better than I did last year.”

Jackson added that he spent the summer working on his game. But Jackson didn’t just do workouts to get by, he focused on different aspects, Grimes said.

“C.J. is a very mature young man and he knew he needed to put in the work and he did with coaches Pat Clarke and D.J. Wallis,” Grimes said. “He also committed himself to the weight room with coach Jonathan Byrd. C.J. has been doing it for more than just four months a year and he has put in the work in a variety of ways.”

Those improvements show up in Jackson’s stats and his influence on the court.

“C.J. really values the basketball, he loves to pass and get his teammates involved,” Grimes said. “But now he is starting to figure out that we need him to also be a scorer for us. He is a stat-sheet provider and you never see a 0 next to his stats. It just showed how well of a complete player he is and it goes back to the work he put in.”

But Jackson wants more, not particularly in his own stats, but more wins from the Vikings as they look ahead to their final six games of the regular season.

“We just want to win games,” Jackson said. “We know we have to defeat West Carteret and then win out to win conference.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @jdnsports.

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: White Oak's C.J. Jackson coming on strong in sophomore basketball season