After a solid start to tournament play in the Warrior Holiday Classic at Oconee County last week, the East Jackson Eagles found themselves on the short end of a losing score in their last two games of the tournament.
Now East Jackson looks to get the main part of their region schedule off to a strong start, as they travel to Dawson County to face the Tigers on Friday. In their last two meetings, Dawson has come away the winner, with both of those games coming in January of last year.
With a 6-3 overall record, Dawson County appears to hold the edge going into Friday’s game. While the Eagles have outscored the Tigers this season, recording 530 points to Dawson County’s 501, the Tigers have allowed less points to be scored against them, 381 to East Jackson’s 518.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Coming off of a 68-60 victory over Athens Academy on Dec. 27 to open tournament play, the Eagles were hoping to build momentum towards the start of region play this week. Their first opponent last Monday came in the form of Apalachee. While the Eagles could hang onto the ball during the first half, they found themselves down 31-18 at the half. A change in strategy saw East Jackson cut that lead in the second half, causing several turnovers in the process. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Eagles had cut the lead down to only four points, and with a minute left on the clock, had tied the game 50-50.
But East Jackson missed some key free throws for the win, and Apalachee was able to take the lead and the 56-51 victory.
Kolby Gilbert led the Eagles in scoring with 18, while Brandon Garrett scored 11.
“We went to a 1-3-1 zone the second half and caused several turnovers,” said coach Brian Turner. “The key to the game was the free throw line as a whole. They were 16-22 while we went 5-14.”
The Eagles next moved to the consolation game to face host team Oconee County. The score stayed close in the first half, with East Jackson holding a 19-18 lead at the half. Oconee was able to get an edge in the second half, coming away with a 10-point lead and the 43-33 win.
Gilbert led in scoring for the Eagles with 14 points.
“We did not play with much effort on either end of the court but was somehow able to take the lead into half time,” Turner said. “In the second half we could never find our stride on defense, or offense as well, leading to a 10-point defeat.”
The Eagles were next scheduled to play host to Union County in region play on Tuesday. Results of that game were unavailable at press time.
