Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 4B -- THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007
— East Jackson Splits Games
Cohen Cooke scored nine points in Commerce’s victory over Hebron Christian over the week
end.
— Tigers Break Into Win Column
Continued from Page 1B
win or lose, they play only one
game, against Stephens County.
Between now and then, Bridges
will try to improve the Tigers’ de
fensive effort and intensity.
“We need to do a better job of
contesting the shots, of following
through and getting the defensive
rebound,” he said. “We will work
and Channing Anderson with two
apiece and Chase Crawford with
one.
CHS 72, Hebron 25
This time, it was the Tigers who
came out hot. They posted a 14-8
first quarter lead, extended it to
32-22 at the half, and put it out of
reach in the third quarter to lead
52-28.
merce, with 11 points. Anthony
Norris put in nine, Gary six, Ty
ler Gamble, Crawford and Matt
Adams three each, and Keller
and Brandon Romans scored two
apiece.
Looking for Flint
The Tigers eagerly await the re
turn of Jake Flint, who is recover
ing from a partial tear of his ACL
Continued from Page 1B
way through a game too,” Turner
said.
Saturday the Eagles traveled to
Jefferson for a rematch with the
Jackson County Panthers, and
saw more of the same close play
that they saw Friday night.
The Panthers jumped out to
an early lead, scoring 16 points
to East Jackson’s six by the end
of the first quarter. The Eagles
cut the deficit to nine by the
end of the half, with Jackson
County leading 26-17.
After the half, it appeared the
Panthers might pull away, as
they led at the end of the third
quarter 36-24. But the Eagles
stormed back, picking up 23
points in the fourth quarter to
Jackson County’s 14, to move
within three points as the final
buzzer sounded.
“We actually changed our
defense early in the game just
to try to keep us halfway un
der control,” Turner said. “We
knew it was going to be a great
atmosphere for a game, and
we were just trying to calm our
kids down and try to keep us
out of foul trouble early in the
game, and thought we did a
pretty good job of it.
“We just never got the tempo
of the game the way we wanted
to. We didn’t do a good job,
and I’ve got to take the blame
for it. We never turned the heat
up the way we should have.
Maybe it was because we did
change up at the beginning of
the game, but for some reason,
we never could get it going.”
Gilbert led East Jackson in
scoring with 12 points. Rucker
scored nine, Pearson eight,
Garrett five, Zach Gilbert four,
and Stevens, Boswell and Tory
Lamb scored two each. Klint
Kesler picked up one. K. Gil
bert and Pearson both had five
rebounds on the night. Rucker
had four assists, and K. Gilbert,
Rucker and Z. Gilbert each had
three steals.
“Jackson County outplayed
us,” Turner said. “They did
what they had to do to win, and
we didn’t. Again, we shot our
selves in the foot against them.
When you go 11 for 26 from the
free throw line, you don’t de
serve to win too many games.
It’s kind of the story of the way
we’ve been going so far. We’re
sitting here at 5-3, and we’re
glad we’re 5-3, but realistically,
if we do what we’re supposed
to, we should be 8-0.”
The Eagles will next hit the
court Thursday night, hosting
the North Oconee Titans in a
rematch of their season opener,
which East Jackson lost 60-54.
Turner said consistency will
be the key.
“That’s the thing we keep
talking about, consistency,” he
said. “Going hard all the time,
and finishing plays. We’ve got
to finish when we get to the
basket. We’re doing a pretty
good job of getting there, we
just have to finish it. North
Oconee is doing well; they’re
off to a 7-1 start. It’s going to
be another good test. Hopeful
ly, we’ll rebound from Saturday
night and pick up a win.”
EJCHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Date Opponent Time/Result
Nov. 20 @North Oconee L,60-54
Nov. 27 @Providence Chr. W,61-45
Nov. 30 West Forsyth W,47-46
Dec. 1 Jackson County L,60-48
Dec. 4 Oglethorpe County W,74-61
Dec. 8 @West Forsyth W,51-34
Dec. 14 @Stephens County W,67-63
Dec. 15 @Jackson County L,50-47
Dec. 20 North Oconee 7:30
Dec. 27-28 Warrior Holiday Classic
Jan.
4
Rabun County
8:30
Jan.
5
Stephens County
5:30
Jan.
11
@Dawson County
8:30
Jan.
15
@Banks County
7:30
Jan.
18
Union County
8:30
Jan.
22
@Fannin County
7:30
Jan.
25
@Rabun County
8:30
Jan.
26
Providence Chris.
5:30
Jan.
29
Dawson County
7:30
Feb
. 1
Banks County
8:30
Feb. 2
@Oglethorpe Co.
5:30
Feb. 5
@Union County
7:30
Feb
. 8
Fannin County
8:30
on our man-to-man principals
so we can play man. We haven’t
played much of that, but when
we have, we’ve given up a lot of
lay-ups and easy shots out of it. I
think that (the work) would help
us.”
The victory over Hebron was
sandwiched between a loss on
Tuesday Dec. 11, to Prince Avenue
Christian School, and another to
Dawson County last Saturday in
Dawsonville.
PAC 72-CHS 45
A slow start doomed the Tigers,
who trailed 19-1 after the first pe
riod and 28-13 at the half. They
were behind 43-28 after three pe
riods.
“I thought we were nervous and
didn’t do a good job taking care
of the ball,” said Bridges. “We were
not ready to play and it really cost
us.”
Drake Cash led the Tiger scor
ing with 12 points, followed by
T. Greene with 10, Cohen Cooke
with seven, Matt Adams with six,
Torrence Wilcher with four, Bran
don Romans, Cameron Billings
“Everybody shot the ball well,”
Bridges pointed out. “In addition,
Hebron played us in a man (man-
to-man defense), which we had
not seen before, and we were able
to execute well. We got a lot of lay
ups and easy shots.”
Cash scored 14 for the Tigers.
Billings added 10, Matt Adams,
Cooke and Greene scored nine
each, Chase Keller contributed
six, Travaris Glasper and Craw
ford scored five apiece, Taylor
Gary added three and Anderson
contributed two points.
Dawson 71-CHS 41
“We did not shoot well, and
Dawson was extremely hot,” said
Bridges. “They made 16 threes for
the game. One player hit seven
threes in the first half and they
had 12 as a team.”
Dawson jumped to a 22-8 first-
period lead, led 46-17 at the half
and 66-28 after three periods be
fore coasting to a 71-41 win.
“We didn’t handle their pressure.
We didn’t play very well,” Bridges
admitted.
Billings was high scorer for Com-
Sub-Varsity Reports
CHS Junior Varsity
Boys Perfect At 5-0
The Commerce High School
junior varsity Tigers ran their record
to 5-0 last week with wins over
Prince Avenue, Hebron Christian
and Dawson County.
They were due to play at Dawson
County Tuesday night, and results
of that game were not available by
press time.
Against Prince Avenue Tuesday,
Dec. 11, the Tigers jumped out on
top early and put the game away
before the end of the first half, then
cruised to a 54-34 win.
“This game was very beneficial
to us as a team,” said Coach Rob
Brown. “We were fortunate to get
out to a big lead early, which gave
us the opportunity to get everyone
some substantial playing time.”
The Tigers led 10-0 after one
period and 32-2 at the half, when
Brown emptied the bench.
Demetris Bonds and Travaris
Glasper led the scoring with eight
points apiece. Brandon Romans
added seven; Anthony Gordon two;
Trey Sims and Tyler Gamble four
each; Channing Anderson, three;
and Deon Orsborne and Paul Ford
contributed a pair apiece.
Hebron fared little better. The
Tigers led 14-5 after one quarter
and doubled Hebron 24-12 at the
half. They were up 40-22 after three
periods and won 55-27.
“This game was a lot closer than
the score indicates,” Brown insists.
“Early in the fourth quarter, Hebron
made some big shots and cut our
lead to around 15. We weren’t tak
ing very good care of the ball at
the time, but the guys did a good
job of making a run when they had
to. Channing Anderson had a big
game, with half of his points com
ing in the fourth quarter. Brandon
Romans also played well.”
The Dawson County game was
a little more competitive early The
Tigers had a 6-5 first-quarter lead,
took an 18-16 lead into the dressing
room at the half, then led 30-25 after
three periods, then maintained that
five-point margin in the final quar
ter to win 50-45.
“This game showed what kind of
heart and character our team has,”
Brown said. “Dawson is a very
good basketball team, and we had
to fight very hard to pull out a win.
The game was very physical, and
our players did a good job of keep
ing their composure throughout the
game.”
Anderson led the offense with
16, followed by Orsborne with 15.
Romans added eight, Bonds five,
and Glasper and Gamble scored
three apiece.
“Channing Anderson had a big
game, scoring 12 of his 16 points in
the fourth quarter,” Brown noted.
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and a strain to his MCL. At 6-1,
he was pegged to be the starting
center, and he’s due back in early
January.
Next Up
The Tigers will play the 8:30
game Friday night, Dec. 28, in the
WJJC Holiday Classic. The Lady
Tigers will play at 7:30.
CHS BOYS BASKETBALL
Date Opponent Time/Result
Nov. 30 Banks County L,48-34
Dec. 4 Social Circle L,48-38
Dec. 7 @Athens Academy L,61-33
Dec. 8 @Athens Christian L,67-57
Dec. 11 @Prince Avenue L,72-45
Dec. 14 Hebron Christian W,72-45
Dec. 15 @Dawson County L,71-41
Dec. 28-29 WJJC Holiday Classic
Jan. 4 Prince Avenue 8:30
Jan. 8 @Lakeview 8:30
Jan. 11 Jefferson 8:30
Jan. 15 Tallulah Falls 7:30
Jan. 19 Athens Academy 7:30
Jan. 22 Towns County 7:30
Jan. 25 @Jefferson 8:30
Jan. 26 @Banks County 6:30
Jan. 29 @Tallulah Falls 7:30
Feb. 2 Athens Christian 6:30
Feb. 5 @Towns County 7:30
Feb. 8 Lakeview Academy 8:30
Feb. 11-13 Region @ Prince Avenue
Feb. 15-16 Region Finals @ Towns Co.
“Deon Orsborne also had a great
game. He ended up with 15 points
and was three of four at the free-
throw line. Deon and Channing
had 17 of the 20 points that were
scored in the fourth quarter.”
EJMS Boys Lose To
Winder-Barrow
The East Jackson Middle School
boys’ basketball team dropped a
45-26 decision to Winder-Barrow
Middle School Wednesday, Dec.
12, to see their record fall to 1-3.
The Bulldoggs jumped to an
early lead of 13-6 after the first
period and led 28-12 at the half.
Winder-Barrow was up 36-18 after
three periods.
“I was really proud of my guys,”
said Coach Wesley Wheeler.
“They played hard and could have
quit but they didn’t.”
Tyler Collins led the Eagles with
14 points. Caleb Hardy and Bryan
Banks added four apiece.
East Jackson’s Zak Pearson (40) and Brandon Garrett (23) both had strong nights against
Jackson County. Pearson scored eight points and picked up five rebounds, while Garrett (23)
scored five points and picked up four rebounds. Photo by Lyn Sengupta
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