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Emphatic dunks and stifling defense prompted Bloom to Southland Conference retribution on Friday.

Bloom avenged its lone conference defeat with a smothering 51-24 victory over visiting Rich South.

“We play pretty good defense here when these kids start moving their feet,” Bloom coach Jasper Williams said. “I thought Zerrell Jackson had a great game tonight. He kept their point guards out of the lane.”

Jackson finished with just three points but dished out six assists. His third-quarter lob for a Johnny Griffin slam was one of three consecutive Bloom dunks that lit up the crowd.

Nhyree Mitchell got things started with a soaring breakaway jam off a steal, and Jataryan Dejareaux closed it out with a two-handed stuff coming on an unselfish pass from Jared Johnson.

Griffin added another terrific one-handed jam to open the fourth quarter and led Bloom (20-3, 8-1) with 13 points. Mitchell tossed in 11 and Johnson netted eight points and four assists.

Demitri Strickland led Rich South (9-13, 3-5) with seven points.