Area basketball teams are wrapping up their non-region schedules as it is region play for most from now on.
The Statesboro Blue Devils took a pair of games from Swainsboro Saturday night as the boys defeated the Tigers 55-43 to improve to 12-2 on the season. In the girl’s game the Blue Devils found themselves down by 18 points in the second half before coming back to win 60-56 to improve to 13-1.
“I feel like games like this are setting us up for the state tournament,” said head coach Marty Holder. “We have proven we can win games by over 30 points, but to come back from 18 points down is something we hope we don’t have happen, but if it does we know we can come back to win.”
The Blue Devils struggled from the field in the first half and played much of the half without center Alyssa Staten. Staten came back in the second half and ended up with 22 points including 13 in the decisive fourth quarter.
“Alyssa got in foul trouble in the first half and Reya Johnson really kept us within striking distance,” Holder said. “She finally started calling for the ball and we got it to her in the fourth quarter. We also had a few other players step up as well as Gerziya Haggray also had a solid game for us.
Staten led all scorers with 22 while Johnson had 17 and Haggray added 12 points. Up next Statesboro is at Jenkins Saturday night.
The Statesboro boys were led Saturday night by D.J. Brown with 21 points while Raylin Grant added 20 points.
The Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets split a pair of games with Bryan County as the boys came up with a 64-38 victory and the girls remain winless losing 54-14.
The boys improved to 7-6 and were led in scoring by Zach Wells with a game-high 31 points. Head coach Tony Raymond felt like the victory was a good way to get some momentum going into region play.
“It was a great team win against Bryan County,” Raymond said. “We spotted them eight points, and then something clicked for us. We went to our big zone line up and that changed the game. They struggled against our length in the zone, and we were able to get easy baskets in transition and in the half court. It was probably our best effort on defense this year.”
Next up for the Jackets they are at Benedictine Friday night.
The Bulloch Academy Gators swept Thomas Jefferson Thursday night. The boys improved to 6-7 on the season with a 71-40 win and were led by Jackson Sheppard with 17 points.
The Lady Gators knocked off Thomas Jefferson 60-28 and improved to 8-5. Bulloch Academy was led by Ashantay Noble with 25 points. Up next the Gators host Robert Toombs Thursday at 6 p.m.
