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Inside
A Building Block ejchs’ girls’ coach
Amy Larimer hopes her team can build on win
over Providence Academy PAGE 3B
IB
THE COMMERCE (GA.) NEWS
WEDNESDAY,
JANUARY 30,2008
CHS Boys' Basketball
Tiger Men Still Looking For
Some Consistency On Offense
Commerce Coach Chad Bridges, left, expresses his difference
of opinion following a foul call in the Jefferson game.
Photo by Brandon Reed
The Commerce High School
boys’ basketball team contin
ues to seek consistency in its
scoring. Coach Chad Bridges’
Tigers, coming off a 56-47 win
over Towns County Jan. 23 and
losses to Jefferson last Friday
and Banks County last Saturday
are struggling in the scoring de
partment.
The Tigers hoped to gain their
fifth win of the season Tues
day over Tallulah Falls (details
of which were not available by
press time), before hosting Ath
ens Christian Saturday night
and traveling to Towns County
next Tuesday.
“We’re having trouble finding
someone to step up and score
consistently,’’ Bridges noted. “It’s
getting to be a problem.’’
CHS 56-Towns 47
Against Towns County Cohen
Cooke stepped up and scored 18
points to pace the Tiger offense,
which got off to a slow start.
The Tigers trailed the Indians
14-4 after the first period, led 22-
20 at the half and were up 32-31
after three quarters before put
ting the game away.
“I thought we came out a lit
tle anxious and tried to do too
much early and did not shoot
well,’’ Bridges said. “Finally, we
settled down and played better.’’
Drake Cash added 10 points,
Cameron Billings and Jake Flint
scored eight apiece, Brandon
Romans tossed in six, Matt Ad
ams four and T. Green two.
Dragons 56-Tigers 41
Tiger fans had reason to cheer
early, as the Tigers led Jefferson
by four, 17-13, after the first peri
od . But the Dragons came back
to take a 28-21 halftime lead and
pulled to 37-23 after three peri
ods en route to a 56-41 win.
“We played extremely well
in the first quarter, then went
into a 16-minute slump where
we scored only six points over
two quarters,’’ Bridges said. “We
were pretty much done then. We
didn’t execute our offense all in
the second quarter. In the third
quarter, we did a better job ex
ecuting, but just didn’t make the
shots.’’
No Tiger reached double fig
ures in scoring. Adams led the
effort with Coming up
nine, Cooke
added eight, vs. Jefferson Sat-
Green, sev- urday 6:30 p.m.
en; Romans @ Towns Co.
and Chase Tuesday @ 7:30
Keller five
each, Flint
scored three and Anthony Nor
ris and Taylor Gary contributed
two apiece.
Leopards 68-Tigers 51
After staying even the first half
(tied at 15 after one quarter and
up 25-24 at the half), the Tigers
could not keep up with the Banks
County Leopards, who built a
47-34 lead and pulled away to a
68-51 victory Saturday night.
“I really think we did not re-
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EJCHS Boys' Basketball
The Eagles
Control
Their Destiny
Win Over Previously Unbeaten
Fannin County Gives East
Jackson A Shot At Subregion Title
The East Jackson Eagles control their destiny.
Following a 72-71 win last Tuesday, Jan. 22, over No. 6 and pre
viously undefeated Fannin County, and a 68-46 win Friday at
Rabun County, coach Brian Turner’s Eagles are on a roll.
“That was a big boost for our kids,’’ the coach said of the Fan
nin County victory. “That got us back into the middle of every
thing in the subregion.’’
The Eagles (12-8, 4-2) were due to play another big game Tues
day night, but results of the rematch with Dawson County were
not available at press time. They’ll host Banks County Friday
night and travel to Oglethorpe County for a region (but not sub-
region) game Saturday.
The Indians and Rabun County are the only
® ■" two teams in the subregion to knock off the
Banks County, first-year Eagles, and a win would go a long
Friday, 8:30 p.m. way toward achieving one of the program’s
> vs. Provi- early goals.
dence Christian “If we can beat them, and with our win over
Saturday, 5:30 p.m. Fannin County, we would have them in a
head-to-head tiebreaker,’’ Turner explained.
Besting Dawson would assure the Eagles of a No. 2 seed in the
subregion tournament — and more importantly, a first-round bye.
Eagles 72-Fannin 71
The Eagles maintained a 17-15 first-quarter lead, were up by
five, 33-28, at the half, and seemed to have things under control
after three periods, 58-49.
But Fannin made a run in the fourth quarter, and with 1:15 in
the game was up by three. The Eagles got a steal, which Brandon
Garrett cashed in for two points, got a second steal but missed
a lay-up, and was forced to foul with 14 to 15 seconds left in the
game and Fannin up by one.
The strategy worked. Fannin missed two foul shots.
“We threw the ball in, Taylor Boswell reversed it to Brandon
Garrett, and he broke the press,’’ Turner explained. “Then we hit
Standrick Stephens under the goal, and he hit Kolby Gilbert for
an open lay-up on the weak side with five seconds left.’’
The game, says Turner, showed the Eagles that they can play
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Brandon Garrett goes above the rim for a previously unbeaten Fannin County,
jumpshot for the East Jackson Eagles. Garrett Photo by Mark Beardsley
scored 25 points in the Eagles victory over
CHS Girls' Basketball
Coach Sees The Potential In Loss To Towns County
It’s not often that you feel good
about a loss, but the Jan. 23 loss
to Towns County should encour
age the Commerce Lady Tigers
as they look toward the subre
gion tournament.
The 4-13 Tigers played the No.
5 ranked Towns County Indians
toe to toe and, but for unforced
turnovers, could have won the
game.
“We did everything we needed
to win. It was just unfortunate
we had the three turnovers, but
you have to look at the game as
a whole. We did enough good
things to win that game,’’ said
coach Eddie McCurley.
The Tigers were due to travel to
Tallulah Falls Tuesday night, de
tails of which were not available
at press time, then host Athens
Academy Saturday.
Towns 53-CHS 48
The Tigers led until the last two
minutes. They were up 11-8 after
the first period, 21-19 at the half
and clung to a 34-32 lead as the
third quarter ended.
Following three turnovers,
Towns got the lead by one late
in the game, forcing the Tigers to
foul them intentionally.
“We had to put them on the
free-throw line, and they made
the shots,’’ McCurley observed
with grudging admiration.
One game, the coach prom
ises, the Lady Tigers will win
when they either make a late
comeback or hold off a late rally
— neither of which they’ve been
able to do yet.
“Once they win one of those,
they’ll be a different team,’’ Mc
Curley said. “I also told them
what I’ve been telling them, that
if they continue to improve,
they’ll be a team to be feared in
the subregion. They’re just good
enough that they could beat any
body in the region.’’
Brittany Sewell led the offense
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CHS Wrestling
Tigers'
New Goal:
Get Healthy
Sham Slam A
Disappointment
The Commerce Wrestling
Tigers have a new goal for the
rest of the 2007-08 season: Get
healthy.
That will be the key to their
success as the area and state
tournaments loom.
Commerce suffered a rough
Sham Slam tournament last
weekend at Habersham Central
High School, finishing 12th, ac
cording to coach Kendall Love.
“It was a tough tournament,
one of the toughest I’ve seen in
a long time,’’ he said.
Only four Tigers placed. Nick
Arostegui was fourth at 130
pounds, while Addison Da
vis, 103, Baxter Barnes, heavy
weight, and Phillip Edwards all
placed sixth.
Edwards got to the semifinal
round, but hurt his wrist, so
Love defaulted the rest of his
matches rather than risk further
injury.
In addition, some of the wres
tlers were battling the aftermath
of the flu or other illnesses.
“The guys that went wrestled
hard. Some of them won match
es that, on paper, probably they
shouldn’t have won. So, we’re
still improving,’’ said Love.
The Tigers were due to host So
cial Circle and Winder-Barrow
Tuesday night, results of which
were not available by press time.
This Saturday, they’ll wrestle in
the Gladiator Duals, starting at
9 a.m., at Clarke Central High
School. It’s a tournament the Ti
gers should win.
“It’s kind of a step down as far
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EJCHS Wrestling
Rested Eagles
Back In Action
After a week off, the East Jack-
son Eagle wrestling team is back
in action.
The Eagles were due to wrestle
Towns County and Fannin Coun
ty Tuesday night in Hiawassee. Re
sults of that match were not avail
able by press time.
The Eagles will travel to Pickens
County this weekend to compete
in the Burnt Mountain Classic.