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Insid Room For Improvement The Tiger boys’ basketball opener proved that the CHS basketball squad has ample room for improvement. PAGE 3B 1B THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007 CHS Girls’ Basketball Lady Tigers Fall By 1 In Opener ms V Kaylin Canup works around a Banks County defender Friday night. The Lady Tigers lost a see-saw game 50-49 in their sea son opener. Photo by Tony Rudeseal CHS Wrestling 10th Place In Panther Invitational A Good Sign For Tiger Wrestlers Tyler Austin goes up against a Banks County wrestler in the 171-pound class during the Panther Invitational Tournament. He won the match with a pin. Photo by Lyn Sengupta If the Lady Tigers’ season open er is a sign of things to come, the 2007-08 basketball season will keep fans on the edge of their seats. The Tigers fell 50-49 to Banks County as a last-second shot rolled off the rim last Friday night. The girls were scheduled to host Social Circle Tuesday night, but results of that game were not avail able by press time. They’ll travel to Athens Thursday and Saturday, the former to take on the Lady Spartans of Athens Academy in a game that was rescheduled from Friday to 4:30 Thursday, and the latter to take on Athens Christian. “I thought our girls played really hard, and that is all I can ask,” said new Tiger coach Eddie McCurley. “It was a game that went back and forth, and I don’t think either team played particularly well.” That may be expected early in the season, before McCurley has had the time to get his team famil iar with all of the nuances of the game. “We haven’t had a chance to work on things like the full-court press and last-second situations,” he noted, saying that he planned to incorporate those things as time allows during the season. McCurley said he was pleased with how the Tigers handled the pressure. “They handled the last-second situation and seemed poised,” he said . “We had a few turnovers, but I didn’t see them panicking. I thought we played real hard, and that’s the first thing a coach is go ing to look for.” With about two and a half min utes left, the Tigers were down by six, thanks to a couple of turn overs. Brittany Sewell, who led the Tigers with 24 points, hit a three- pointer to put the Tigers up by one Please Turn to Page 3B A 10th place finish in the Pan ther Invitational last weekend gave Tiger coach Kendall Love a pretty good idea of where his team stands after just one outing. And he likes what he saw. “We’re much better off than we were at this time last year,” the second-year coach commented. “We’re running into the same obstacles (little lead time after football season), but we’re much better overall.” Jefferson won the event, follo wed by Gilmer County. Jackson County finished third, with East Jackson taking 12th. Three Tigers medaled — Phillip Edwards was third at 145 and Nick Arostegui and Jon Cash finished fourth at 130 and 135 respectively, and Love said seve ral others were a win away from placing. “All of our guys at least won one match and several were just a win short of placing,” Love said. “We saw some things we need to work on, but we also lost a couple of matches because we’re not whe re we need to be conditionwise.” That’s the legacy of a playoff football program. Being in top condition for football does not translate into being in good con dition for wrestling. “Within a couple of weeks, if we wrestle those same matches again, we win,” Love said. “Also, we had two state placers (from last season) who did not wrestle. I wanted them to have more time to get their weight down.” Love expects to see improve ment as the season progresses. The Tigers were to wrestle Clar- ke Central and Stephens County, both AAA schools, Tuesday at Clarke Central. Results were not available by press time. This we ekend, they’ll travel to Winder for the Apalachee Invitational. Wre stling starts at 5:00 Friday and Please Turn to Page 3B EJCHS Boys’ Basketball EJCHS Wrestling Eagle Men Beat W. Forsyth, Providence; Fall To JCCHS By Brandon Reed It was a good week and a bad week for the East Jackson Eagles basketball team. For the good, they picked up two wins, includ ing the first of the team’s inaugural season. For the bad, they lost in their first meeting with their rivals in Jefferson, the Jackson County Comprehensive High School Pan thers. Providence Christian The week started out on a high note, with the Eagles picking up their first win in school history against the Providence Christian Stars 61-45. “We played better,” said Eagles boys head basketball coach Brian Turner. “We went in with a small lead at halftime. We pushed the ball down the court better, and got some easy steals with our press. I think we wore them out, to be hon est, just running.” Brandon Rucker led the scoring, picking up 17 points. Others who scored included Brandon Garrett with 15, Kolby Gilbert with 12, Standrick Stevens with five, Zak Pearson and Terry Cox with four each, C.J. Brown with three, and Cody Hall with one. Taylor Bo swell led in assists with six. Gilbert had 10 rebounds. “Overall, I was very pleased,” Turner said. “I really thought that we had turned the corner, and realized the style that we needed to play, and understood what we were trying to do. We still didn’t shoot the ball very well, but we played the style and the tempo that we wanted to play. There was a lot more pressing, and a lot more running up and down the court, trying to get easy baskets. I think it paid off for us.” West Forsyth Next up for East Jackson was their home opener Friday against the West Forsyth Wolverines. The Eagles trailed in the final moments of the game, but a last-minute free throw gave East Jackson the win in a squeaker, 47-46. The Eagles were down by 14 with around five minutes remain ing. Turner put his third team in, which cut the Wolverines’ lead to eight with around three minutes left. Turner then put his starters back in, who forced some turn overs, and tied up the game. A dunk by Garrett gave the Eagles a two-point lead. The Wolverines came back, but a late foul set up the free throw at the finish. Garrett scored 15 points. K. Gil bert added 11, Pearson eight, Cody Gibbs six, Brandon Rucker four, and Taylor Boswell, Zach Gilbert and Cox two each. Rucker had four assists and Pearson grabbed eight rebounds. Jackson County It was a match-up that both sides had been waiting on, as the Please Turn to Page 2B Kolby Gilbert looks for a hole in the Panther defense. Gilbert scored 15 points and grabbed two rebounds during the Saturday contest with the Panthers. Photo by Brandon Reed EJCHS Wrestlers Are Off To A Solid Start By Brandon Reed The East Jackson Eagles wres tling team got its first competi tive time on the mat last week, first hosting Towns County and Social Circle last Tuesday, then taking part in the Panther Invita tional in Jefferson over the week end. Things went well for the Eagles against Towns County, as they defeated the Indians 48-28. But, they split the bill against Social Circle, falling 45-31 to the Red skins. “We did fine,” said head wres tling coach Frank Caputo. “We have a mixture of some kids that have wrestled in the past, but pri marily we have a bunch of kids that this is their first year wres tling. With first-year wrestling, it just takes time to develop. “All in all, I thought we gave a very good effort, I thought our kids stayed upbeat and positive, regardless of the outcome, and I was really pleased with it.” The team then moved on to the Panther Invitational at JCCHS over the weekend, where they finished 12th out of 24 teams participating, with Luis Verduz- co taking second in the 140 lb. class. “In that tournament, we threw some kids out there that hadn’t wrestled before, and we threw Please Turn to Page 2B Luis Verduzco, top, placed second in the 140-pound divi sion of the Panther invitational. The Eagles placed 12th with 83 points. Photo by Lyn Sengupta NOW OPEN! $5 Christian Bookstore Suite 101 (next to Hibbett Sports) All Bibles, Reference & Specialty Books are 50% OFF Retail. ALL OTHER BOOKS ARE $5. TangerTown Centre