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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- Please Turn to Page 3B 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 Please Turn to Page 3B 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 Please Turn to Page 2B 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 Please Turn to Page 2B 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.