Tigers Host Patriots Friday

The Patriots have dropped two games going into this week’s match up, falling 73-70 to Taliaferro County and 69-54 to Johnson.

Commerce came away the victor of the two team’s most recent pairing, which occurred Dec. 18, 2009, when the Tigers won 48-45.

“We are excited to see where we are,” said Commerce coach Chad Bridges. “We still have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be. Oglethorpe on Tuesday and Friday will be very tough tests. They have a guard scoring about 30 a game in their first three games. They also have a really tall post player who could give us some trouble.”

Following the Friday match-up with the Patriots, Commerce will travel to Gainesville to face Riverside Military Academy in a region contest.

“The first region game against Riverside on Saturday will be huge,” Bridges said. “They had a good team last year and it is important to get off to the right start in region play.”

That start will be helped by the returning members of last year’s region championship team, including seniors Kentrell Williams, Marquese Butler, Brandon Romans, Tyler Gamble, Channing Anderson, Demetrius Bonds and Anthony Norris, along with junior Chase Klugh and sophomores Jonathan Book, Robert Hayes and Thomas McMillan.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Commerce News.