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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 18. 2010 — PAGE 3B
Patrick McCrary scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds
Tuesday night in Madison County’s 67-55 victory over
Monroe Area. Ben Munro/staff
Boys’ basketball...
continued from page IB
the season and we wanted pay
back. We wanted to play them
again.”
Nevertheless, it was a sig
nificant night historically for
Madison County basketball. The
Red Raiders — who have spent
the entire year trying to erase the
tough memories of more than a
decade — will enter their first
state tournament appearance
since 1997 as no worse than a
no. 4 seed thanks to Tuesday’s
victory over Monroe Area.
To put that in perspective, this
year’s seniors were four and five
years old the last time Madison
County sent a boys' team to
state.
“You can take a deep breath
and say, ‘yeah, we’re going to
state and put the (state tourna
ment) patch on the jacket,’’’ said
10 ,h -year coach Steve Crouse,
who is headed to his first state
tournament.
Madison County led from start
to finish Tuesday in clinching
that state tournament berth.
Raines scored 21 points and
grabbed eight boards to lead
the Red Raiders, one of four
Madison County players in dou
ble figures.
In fact, the Red Raiders had
three players record double dou
bles — T.J. McGuire (15 points,
11 rebounds), Patrick McCrary
(11 points, 13 rebounds) and
Stan Maxwell (10 points, 11
rebounds).
Madison County answered
a late shooting barrage from
Monroe Area standout Ken
Jackson with a well-timed 11-0
fourth quarter mn to finish off
Monroe Area.
“I’m very proud of our guys
for just being resilient right there,
and not crumbling under pres
sure," Crouse said.
Jackson, who finished with 25
points, cracked a 3-pointer with
5:46 left to cut the Red Raider
lead to 48-46.
But Madison County didn't
wilt, particularly Raines.
The senior scored seven of
the Red Raiders' next 11 points
as Madison County ran its lead
back out to 59-48, and Monroe
Area never seriously threatened
again.
“We said, 'we know we’re sup
posed to win,”' Raines said. “We
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want it. We wanted it bad. We
needed the win."
With 16 seconds left, Raines
put an exclamation point on the
Red Raiders’ most meaningful
victory in 13 years with a hard
dunk.
“Oh, that felt good right there,”
Raines said.
Eleven of Raines’ 21 points
came in the fourth quarter.
“Bradley Raines stepped up
big in the fourth quarter,” Crouse
said. “He probably played one of
his best games."
Madison County, which led
36-26 at the half, also enjoyed
a tremendous advantage on the
boards, outrebounding Monroe
Area 53-28.
“That’s huge for us,” Crouse
said.
Madison County's victory
sets up a rematch with Winder-
Barrow Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
in the region semifinals.
The two teams split the regu
lar season series, with Madison
County beating Winder-Barrow
67-60 in Danielsville Jan. 12 and
the Bulldoggs prevailing 46-39
Jan. 29 in Winder.
Besides the obvious grav
ity this game carries in Madison
County's pursuit of a region
title, it will also factor heavily
in Madison County’s positioning
for the state tournament.
“You’d like to say hey, if we
come in first or second in the
region, we're playing at home
again (for the first round of
state),” Crouse said.
So with the state tournament
berth hurdle cleared, Madison
County can concentrate solely
on earning the highest seeding
possible.
“We’re still going to have to
play hard,” Raines said. “We’ve
got (a spot at) state. Now we’re
trying to win the region cham
pionship.”
MCHS 67, Monroe Area 55
MCHS 20 16 9 22 — 67
MAHS 9 17 14 15 — 55
Scorers: Raines 21, McGuire 15,
McCrary 11, Maxwell 10, Burton
7, McKeever 3
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Wrestling ... continued from page IB
Kyle Gordon gains the upperhand on an opponent earlier this year. Gordon
is one of eight MCHS wrestlers particpating at the state meet at the Gwinnett
Arena. Ben Munro/staff
scrapped due to winter weather.
“We feel like we’ve got a few guys with a
legitimate shot to come through and place with
the people that they’ve wrestled,” Madison
County coach Richie Houston said.
Houston notes that the Red Raiders for the
second time this year have a two-week break
due to weather cancellations.
“We should be healed up and ready to go,”
Houston said.
The now much-larger state tournament runs
until Saturday night.
The sectionals were implemented last year as
an extra step to qualify for the state tournament.
The top 32 wrestlers throughout the state in
each weight class advanced to the sectionals,
where the field was whittled down to the top
eight.
Those eight would advance to the Gwinnett
Arena.
But the weekend snowstorm forced the post
ponement of Friday and Saturday's state sec
tional tournament. The event was rescheduled
for Monday and Tuesday, but the threat of
winter weather (which never materialized) led
to its cancellation altogether.
Thus, the GHSA had to rearrange the entire
state tournament format with 32-man brackets
instead of eight-man versions.
While Houston is happy that all eight of
his sectional qualifiers will wrestle at state,
he does like the added step of the sectionals.
Having just eight state qualifiers per weight
class instead of 32 enhances the reputation
of Georgia High School wrestling, Houston
explained, especially for kids wanting to wres
tle at the next level.
“As far as college scouts looking at Georgia
kids, the tougher it is to place and get to the
state tournament, kind of lends a little credit
ability to Georgia wrestling," he said.
But this year’s change isn't all bad.
With just one senior out of the group of eight
state qualifiers, Red Raiders will return a host
of wrestlers next year with Gwinnett Arena
experience.
“We lose one guy, so next year that's kind
of something to build on that we’ll have seven
state qualifiers back," Houston said. “So for a
selfish reason that’s a good thing."
Now, the question is how many of that group
will be state placers.
The first two rounds of the state tournament
were scheduled for today (Thursday) on 12
mats at the Gwinnett Arena.
The first round is single elimination, but
wrestlers losing in the second round will con
tinue in the "wrestle backs."
The quarterfinals and semifinals are Friday.
The finals begin Saturday at 5 p.m. when all 14
weightclass champions in each classification
will be crowned.
“We’ve just been trying to pound into our
guys ‘confidence,’” Houston said. “A lot of
them don’t have the confidence because they
never have placed. I think if they wrestle know
ing that they can place, I think we've got a few
guys that can place."
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