The Jefferson Dragons rolled on through play last week, picking up three region wins and staying undefeated in region play.
The Dragons look to end their regular season in winning fashion Friday night, when they travel to North Oconee to face the Titans.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Last week’s wins left the Dragons 13-0 in the region going into this week, and locked Jefferson in as the number one seed in the sub-region going into round one of next week’s 8-AA region tournament at Dawson County. Tournament play begins Tuesday.
Walnut Grove
Last Tuesday, the Dragons headed south to Walnut Grove to face off against the Warriors.
The Dragons took control early, moving out to a 21-13 advantage by the end of the first quarter. But the Warriors weren’t ready to give up without a fight and outscored Jefferson 20-12 to tie the game 33-33 going into the half.
While the game remained close in the second half, Jefferson again asserted their strength by outscoring Walnut Grove 19-11 to take a 52-44 lead by the end of the third quarter. The Dragons would gain more momentum in the fourth quarter, scoring 27 points while holding the Warriors to 22 to take a 79-66 victory.
Darius Minor led the Dragons in scoring with 18 points. J.J. Damons scored 16 points and 15 rebounds. Rayshad Borders scored 15 points.
“I think our press in the second half is what kind of turned the game around for us,” coach Bolling DuBose said.
DuBose said he was glad to get out of there with a win.
“They’re a pretty good team, even though they are a new school,” he said. “Anytime you get a win in the sub-region on the road you just take it and try to get out of there and get home.”
Oglethorpe Co.
Up next for the Dragons was Oglethorpe County, who came to Jefferson on senior night last Friday.
Maybe it was the excitement of senior night, but the Dragons took control of the game in a big way early on, scoring 31 points while holding Oglethorpe to only eight in the first quarter. Jefferson continued to pull out a big lead in the second quarter, adding 29 more points to their total while the Patriots scored 11, to carry a big 60-19 lead into the half.
Oglethorpe managed to outscore the Dragons in the third quarter, 28-24, as Jefferson got court time for several different players. The Dragons led 84-47 by the end of the quarter. Jefferson would hold the Patriots to 11 points in the fourth quarter while adding 13 more to their total to win 97-58.
J.J. Damons led in scoring for the Dragons with 17 points. Tate Chesser scored 14 points. Darius Minor scored 12 points. Chris Jackson scored 10 points. Austin Thompson scored 10.
“It was one of the best games we played all year,” DuBose said. “I thought our kids came out and played extremely well. We played all five of our seniors, who are Darius Minor, J.J. Damons, Tyler Bailey, Joseph Martin and Rayshad Borders.”
“I thought we did a great job on the break,” DuBose added. “Obviously we made a lot of shots or we wouldn’t have scored 60 points in a half. I thought offensively we did a great job.”
East Jackson
The Dragons rounded out their week of play with a rematch against in-county rival East Jackson at EJCHS.
Jefferson had won in the first meeting of the two teams, 66-55, back on Jan. 22
The game was closely matched at the start, with the Dragons moving out to a slim four-point lead, 20-16, by the end of the first quarter. In the second, the Dragons began pulling out a little more of a lead,
a nine-point advantage, while the Eagles worked to stay within shouting distance. Jefferson carried a 43-34 lead into the half.
The third quarter was very evenly matched by both sides, as both the Dragons and the Eagles scored 13 points, keeping it a nine-point ball game, 56-47, at the end of the quarter. But Jefferson broke loose in the fourth quarter, putting 24 points on the board while East Jackson scored only nine. In the end, Jefferson came away with a 75-56 victory.
J.J. Damons led in scoring with 19 points and 15 rebounds on the night.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
