With three wins last week over North Oconee, Commerce and Banks County, the Jefferson Dragons are in the midst of a seven-game winning streak and, more importantly, remain undefeated in region play heading into the final five games of the regular season.
The Dragons will play host to Oglethorpe County on Friday, on senior night, the final home game of the regular season.
The Patriots enter the week off of a win over North Oconee last Friday night with a 4-5 record in the region and 8-8 overall.
In their last pairing, the Dragons won solidly over the Patriots, taking a 92-51 victory back on Jan. 15.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
North Oconee
The Dragons began their week with a home stand against the Titans of North Oconee.
Jefferson took control early, holding the Titans to only three points while they took an 11-3 lead in the first quarter. North Oconee began trying to fight back, putting 12 points on the board in the second quarter while the Dragons added 11 more to their total to carry a 22-15 lead into the half.
The Dragons continued to control the game, holding North Oconee to nine points while they continued to stretch their lead in the third quarter, moving out to a 36-24 advantage by the end of the quarter.
Jefferson put the game away in the fourth, adding 14 points while holding the Titans to nine to come away with a 50-33 victory.
J.J. Damons led in scoring for the Dragons with 15 points on the night. David Watson scored 11.
“I thought our defense was real good all night long,” said coach Bolling DuBose. “I thought we rebounded the ball well. Offensively, we made the shots we needed to make. Anytime you can beat somebody by 17, that’s a good job.”
Commerce
To say that the Dragons Nation was looking for revenge last Friday when Commerce came to town for their second meeting of the year would be an understatement.
In their previous meeting, the Tigers broke Jefferson’s 10-year winning streak over them by handing the Dragons a 63-56 loss.
Now the Jefferson faithful wanted to see the beginning of a new streak. They would not leave disappointed.
The Dragons moved out into an early lead, 22-14, by the end of the first quarter. They would continue to build on that lead while holding the Tigers to 12 points in the second quarter, carrying a 39-26 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, the Dragons went to work on putting the game away. They would add 26 points to their tally while holding the Tigers to 12 to make it 65-38 by the end of the third. Jefferson didn’t slow down any in the fourth quarter, adding another 22 points on the board while Commerce scored 17. In the end, the Dragons came away with a decisive 87-55 victory.
J.J. Damons led Jefferson in scoring with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Darius Minor scored 23.
“Offensively, I thought we played well all night by pushing the ball down the floor,” DuBose said. “Defensively, we did a great job shutting down their scorers. For us, it was important not to just win that game, but to win it convincingly and kind of reestablish the fact that we feel like we’re a better team than Commerce is.”
Banks County
The Dragons wrapped up their weekend with a makeup game at home against the Leopards of Banks County. The game had been postponed from Jan. 8 due to bad weather.
The contest started out close, with the Dragons taking a seven-point advantage in the first quarter to lead 18-11. Jefferson then began to move out, adding 22 points to their total while holding the Leopards to 12 points to make it 40-23 going into the half.
Banks County began trying to mount a charge in the second half, as they scored 16 points while the Dragons scored 11, making it a 51-39 difference at the end of the third quarter. But Jefferson stayed in control, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter while the Leopards scored 22, giving the Dragons a firm 76-61 victory.
Darius Minor led the Dragons with 32 points on the night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
