The Bulldogs would go on to fall in the state finals, losing to Greater Atlanta Christian.
Final Four
The Dragons knew they would have to put forth one of their best efforts of the year when they tipped off against the Thomasville Bulldogs Thursday in Macon.
With several big players, Thomasville came to town with a 23-4 record, having lost only one region pairing in the season.
From the start, Jefferson worked hard to find an edge and to stay with the Bulldogs. By the end of the first quarter, the Dragons had managed to stay within shouting distance, trailing by just eight points at the end of the first eight minutes, 18-10. The Dragons would begin working hard on Thomasville, and actually outscored the Bulldogs in the closing minutes of the second quarter, 9-2, cutting the lead to seven points, 34-27, going into the half.
“I really felt like the way we settled down in the last three, three-and-a-half minutes of the second half was a good sign for us,” said coach Bolling DuBose.
Over the course of the last several weeks, the Dragon Nation had seen this scenario play out several times. The Dragons would be down early only to surge back late to take the win.
“I’ll be honest, at halftime, I felt like ‘we’ve done this before, we can do it again.’ ” DuBose said.
But in the third quarter, the Bulldogs turned up the pressure. Over the course of the next eight minutes, Thomasville outscored Jefferson 24-8 to take a commanding 58-35 advantage at the end of third.
“We got careless with the ball a number of times,” DuBose said of the third quarter. “We had seven or eight turnovers in that quarter, which all led to easy baskets for them.”
“As we started to get behind a little, we started to rush our shots,” DuBose added. “Our shot selection was not good at all in the third quarter, and that consequently left a lot of missed shots.”
Despite the odds, Jefferson came out swinging in the fourth quarter, looking for the late surge that had carried them to victory before. Despite a strong effort, they came up short as Thomasville won 69-43, ending the Dragons season.
“When you get down 23 points to a team that good with only a quarter left, your chances of coming back aren’t that great,” DuBose said.
J.J. Damons led the team in scoring with 22 points. Darius Minor had five.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald.
