The Pioneers can be taken advantage of inside.

Wednesday night, Jamestown Community College’s Jared Fish proved that to be true.

The Jayhawks’ 6-foot-7 sophomore from Salamanca scored 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting and added 11 rebounds to help his team to a 99-86 NJCAA victory at the Physical Education Complex.

“For us it starts with finishing inside. Fish had a big part of that today,” Jamestown CC coach Xavier Churnac said. “Their biggest guy was like 6-2 so we said ‘Let’s get it inside, get it inside.’ We got away from that at times and that’s why the margin of victory wasn’t where I thought it should’ve been.”

Jamestown CC’s Tairyus Sands shoots over Butler County CC’s Joel Stutz during Wednesday’s NJCAA game at Jamestown CC’s Physical Education Complex.

Jamestown CC held a 45-23 rebounding advantage and would’ve won easily if not for 20-of-46 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc by Butler County CC — a Division III Region 20 program.

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Tyairus Sands added 14 points and 12 rebounds while Kenneth Jernigan Jr. chipped in 12 points and five assists for the Jayhawks (6-3).

Joel Stutz, who entered the game averaging 31.4 points per game for the Pioneers (1-4), could not be slowed down Wednesday as he finished with 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including 8-of-17 marksmanship from beyond the arc.

“We just weren’t locked in enough,” Churnac said about his team’s inability to stop Stutz. “We said that they could shoot the ball, and we were still letting them get off the 3s. We wanted to run them off the line. Hopefully we’ll have better execution next time.”

Jamestown CC started strong and never trailed after Fish’s second bucket gave the Jayhawks a 4-2 lead just over a minute into the game. A steal and a dunk from Sands made it 22-10 with 14:17 remaining, and coaxed Butler County CC coach Dick Hartung into a timeout.

The lead grew to as many as 18 at two different points during the opening 20 minutes, first on a Gassy Tchinkati putback with 10:07 remaining, and then again on a Jernigan lay-in with 1:39 left before Josh Knochle and Jace Stutz made 3-pointers before halftime to cut the lead to 12 at the break.

The Jayhawks turned the ball over just three times and shot 24 of 46 from the field, including 5 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line in the opening 20 minutes.

“We talk about limiting our turnovers every day. It was down compared to our other games,” Churnac said. “Hopefully we can build on that.”

After the break, the Pioneers cut the deficit to 10 at three separate occasions. Down the stretch, they made it an 11-point game when Joel Stutz made a layup with 7:57 remaining, but Fish made a layup and Roshawn Reaves followed with his lone 3-pointer of the game as Jamestown CC pushed the lead back to a comfortable 16 points.

“We’re an inside-first kind of team and then working back out,” Churnac said. “We hit our 3s when we are in rhythm. We get the ball in, we get it back out, we reverse and hit the open guy … those are the shots that we hit.”

In the final two minutes, the Jayhawks had three opportunities to break the 100-point plateau for the fourth time this season, but a missed shot and a pair of turnovers left them at 99.

“We’ve won the past two games that we were supposed to win. We still have a long way to go and have a lot to work on still,” Churnac said. ” … We know what’s coming next semester. We’re going one game at a time, but at the same time building for January, February and March, hopefully.”

Now Churnac’s team looks forward to Jim Riggs Post-Journal Weekend at the Physical Education Complex. The Jayhawks will host Columbus State CC on Friday at 7 p.m. and Lakeland CC on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We just have to make progress,” Churnac said about this coming weekend. “Win or lose, if we can come out of there saying we made progress and we’re getting better each game, then we are heading in the right direction.”

NOTES: Twelve players scored for Jamestown CC, which shot 42 of 79 (53.2 percent) from the field, including 6 of 15 (40.0 percent) from 3-point range. … The Jayhawks held a 62-16 scoring advantage in the paint and outscored the Pioneers, 22-7, on second-chance opportunities. … Butler County CC, which dressed just nine players, got just 6 points from its bench.

BUTLER COUNTY CC (86)

Sager 2-3 0-0 6, Yonker 5-10 2-3 17, Knochel 2-7 0-0 6, JaStutz 5-15 2-3 15, JoStutz 13-23 2-2 36, Haas 0-2 0-0 0, Slomers 2-3 0-0 4, Campbell 1-4 0-2 2, Nichol 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-67 6-10 86.

JAMESTOWN CC (99)

Jernigan Jr. 4-10 2-2 12, Fish 12-16 2-3 26, Reaves 3-11 0-0 7, Pelissier 2-4 2-2 6, Sands 6-10 0-0 14, Heard 4-7 0-0 8, RdClowney 2-2 2-2 6, RnClowney 0-1 0-0 0, Rumley 3-5 0-0 7, Canty 3-3 1-1 7, Gilliam 1-4 0-0 2, Mosquea 1-2 0-0 2, Tchinkati 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 42-79 9-10 99.

Halftime–Jamestown CC 57, Butler County CC 45. 3-point goals–Butler County CC 20-46 (Sager 2-2, Yonker 5-9, Knochel 2-6, JaStutz 3-8, JoStutz 8-17, Haas 0-1, Slomers 0-1, Campbell 0-2), Jamestown CC 6-15 (Jernigan Jr. 2-3, Reaves 1-4, Sands 2-5, RnClowney 0-1, Rumley 1-2). Total rebounds–Butler County CC 28 (JaStutz 6), Jamestown CC 45 (Sands 12). Assists–Butler County CC 24 (JaStutz 14), Jamestown CC 19 (Jernigan Jr. 5). Total fouls–Butler County CC 9, Jamestown CC 19.