The HoCo Bears came out on fire in the first quarter against Thomas Co Central…. outscoring the Yellow Jackets 27-11 which proved to be the difference in their win or go home region tournament game. The Bears defeated Thomas Co Central 52-45 to advance to the region semifinals & qualify for the AAAAAA State Playoffs yesterday at the Warhawks’ Nest.
HoCo’s offense shot lights out in the first as previously mentioned by making 4 shots from beyond the arc in the opening frame but their offense would struggle the remainder of the game. The Bears outscored the Yellow Jackets 10-9 in a tight second quarter to lead 37-20 at the half. HoCo built the lead to 19 in the third quarter but Thomas Co Central got a little momentum as they cut the gap down to 12 at the end of the third.
The Bears severely struggled during the first half of the fourth quarter as they would fail to get any points during that stretch & ultimately the Yellow Jackets cut the gap all the way down to five to get back into the game. HoCo found seven points in the fourth quarter & Thomas Co Central could not get any closer as the Bears would ice the game late & win 52-45.
Malachi Jackson, Kameron Plummer, & Antwun Ziegler each led the Bears in scoring with 10 pts a piece while Abe Smith led the Yellow Jackets in scoring with 13 pts followed by Jalan Wingfield with 12 pts.
HoCo improved to 14-11 overall & will take on the #1 seed Lee Co down at Lee Co High School tomorrow night at 8:30pm. The Yellow Jackets finished their season at 10-16 overall.
The final play-in game featured the Northside & Veterans boys to see who would advance & make the playoffs & who would be eliminated. The Warhawks won the battle over the Eagles 72-56 in a game that went back & forth throughout the first three quarters.
Veterans & Northside started off neck-&-neck with the host leading 17-12 after one. The Eagles were able to get a slim lead during the second… a lead that changed a handful of times throughout the remainder of the first half that ended with Northside out front 27-26. Both teams continued to duke it out for the duration of the third quarter & the Warhawks would win the frame 18-17 as the game went into the fourth tied at 44.
Veterans would dominate the fourth quarter by shooting lights out & racking up 28 pts that included a monster slam that brought the Warhawks student section & bench to their feet & the Warhawks won 72-56 by outscoring Northside 28-12 in the final frame to advance to the region semifinals & qualify for the AAAAAA State Playoffs.
Chandler Thomas led the Warhawks in scoring with 23 pts that included the monster slam during the fourth followed by Jaleel Wright & Will Burroughs with 12 pts a piece. Ricardo Jones led the Eagles in scoring with 21 pts followed by Keron Milton with 14 pts & Chaston Brown with 12 pts.
Veterans improved to 16-9 overall & will take on the #2 seed Tift Co down in Leesburg tomorrow evening at 5:30pm while the Eagles finished their season at 5-19 overall after dropping their 12th consecutive game.
The HoCo Lady Bears played Lee Co tough by keeping pace with the Lady Trojans for about 7/8ths of the game until Lee Co was able to get on an 8-0 run late & put the Lady Bears away by winning 58-49 to qualify for the AAAAAA State Playoffs. The Lady Trojans improved to 14-12 overall & will take on the #1 seed Veterans at home tomorrow night at 7:00pm. HoCo finished their season at 9-15 overall.
The Northside Lady Eagles were outmatched in their play-in game against Thomas Co Central…. falling 71-38 & finishing their season at 2-22 overall that includes a 20 game losing streak. The Lady Yellow Jackets improved to 17-6 overall & will take on the #2 seed Tift Co Lady Blue Devils tomorrow afternoon at 4:30pm.
