With just under 20 seconds left, Casey managed an easy layup and sent Kyle Lamb to the free throw line. With six seconds left, the Rebels had a shot to tie them game, down 83-80. But Redd intercepted a pass and was fouled with just a second remaining.
"I'm proud of the guys for coming away with a win," East Coach Chris O'Bryan said. "We didn't expect to come out here and play our best game. If we did, obviously there wouldn't be any room for improvement."
Most of that improvement, O'Bryan said, will have to be on the defensive end.
"We can't afford to give up that many points and expect to win," he said. "We were very fortunate tonight. We had four turnovers in the last two minutes and you're not going to win a lot of games doing that. But we stepped up. We hit free throws when it counted. We got rebounds. We did a good job contesting shots."
Lamb led the Jaguars with 35 points and made key free throws in the game's final minutes.
"He ends up going seven-for-eight from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone," O'Bryan said. "That's what you expect a senior leader to step up and do. All the experience he's had, he stepped up when it mattered. Because of that, we come away with a win."
While East did boast experience in the game with Lamb and Redd, who scored 13, the Jaguars also showed off its depth. The key for O'Bryan is to get experience for all those bench players.
"If we can get everyone on the same level, we'll be great depth-wise," he said. "We have a lot of guys who can play, and they're all about the same. But knowledge-wise, they're just not all on the same page yet."
O'Bryan said when those younger players get experience, we can use more players in the late minutes of close games.
"Over the course of the season, hopefully, we can get everyone to that same level where we feel comfortable playing nine or 10 down the stretch," he said. "In the fourth quarter, I went with six or seven primarily, cause I was confident they knew where they were supposed to be. Not to take anything away from those other guys. We wouldn't have won the game if everybody hadn't contributed."
For the Jags, the win — even in the season's first game — tells O'Bryan a lot about where his club stands.
"As much inexperience as we have, to pull out a win in that situation, says a lot about their heart and tenacity and how well they're coming together as a team," he said. "We know each game is going to be a learning process. Our goal is to improve over the course of every night and see what we can do at the end of the year."
Andrew Brockman scored 12 points for the Jags while Michael Rexroat added nine and Cody Collins tossed in seven.
Kyle Jefferies led the way for the Rebels with 22 points. Brad Jefferies added 17 while Tyler Johnson and Jordan Ellison each tossed in 13 points in the loss.
The Jags followed their win with a road loss at Boyle County (2-0) Tuesday night, 80-70.
East will look to bounce back tomorrow at 6 p.m. against Lincoln County (2-1).
