BASKETBALL: Dublin does it again, defeats East Laurens to keep region tournament magic going

Worst-to-first may still be a couple more wins away from happening as the region 2-High A tournament concludes later this week. 

But worst-to-playoffs? That’s definitely a thing for the Dublin boys basketball team, whose storybook region tournament run – to follow a winless regular season in league play – resumed Wednesday night with a third-straight upset victory.

The Irish, playing on a neutral floor at Macon’s Central High School, knocked off crosstown rival East Laurens 58-55 to not only snag a spot in the final rounds, but more importantly guarantee themselves a place in next week’s state tournament draw as one of the region’s four automatic qualifiers, regardless of what happens Thursday and Friday in Sandersville as they go up against No. 2 seed Dodge County in Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal, then play Friday for either a consolation or championship. 

Dublin’s girls fell one game short of nailing down another as a shorthanded Central Macon squad cut short their equally remarkable three-day run earlier in the night by a final of 38-33. But the Lady Irish (13-15, 7-9 region 2-High A) are in the running to gain an at-large berth from their current spot at No. 40 in the most recent set of GHSA postseason rankings, and will learn their fate once brackets are set early next week. 

Ditto for the third-seeded East boys, who had little to worry about sitting 14th, but saw Wednesday’s game slip through their grasp after failing to take advantage of some late opportunities, and stubbing a talon on consecutive last-chances in the final minute. 

It was there for either team’s taking down the stretch of the fourth quarter, and neither ever led or trailed by more than a possession after Dublin (7-20, 3-13 region) caught back up from a 35-31 halftime deficit for a tie and lead late in the third. 

Both traded baskets in rapid fire – with their leads averaging a point – over an exciting sparring match that began the fourth. 

Five different Falcons combined to score 17 in the period, Jeremiah Rozier hitting a 3, while Dublin had only five field goals, two of them massive 3s by Boogie McRae to keep pace. 

In the end, the difference for the Irish was free throws, which they made count down the stretch with misses on just three of 17 second-half attempts, and six out of 23 total. 

Chris Dixon, their leading scorer with 19, remained a perfect 12-for-12 with the final few that served as the last word. 

The count sat tied at 52 for a couple minutes before Dublin made its big move with two to play as Kam Stanley connected on a jump hook for a two-point lead. 

East (20-6, 10-4 region) would answer after reciprocal stops, grabbing an offensive re to even it back up on a Major Floyd second effort with about a minute still on the clock. 

The ball was in the Falcons’ court for a shot to seize the upper hand on consecutive trips, but came away with only a point as Floyd hit the back end of a free throw pair (East was 11-of-16 for the game) for a 55-54 lead with 40 left. 

Dublin, out of a timeout, got a fortunate whistle that came a good bit after the play as Dixon attacked the baseline to find a great look, but missed a floater. He still wound up at the line, and continued the streak to place the Irish back in front 56-55. 

Another timeout, and East Laurens suffered a critical misfire as a pass toward the middle came straight to Dixon, who dribbled the clock down to eight before a foul, then buried two more foul shots to stake Dublin to a three-point lead. 

Time was of the essence for the Falcons, who fired one up the court and into the corner for the 3-pointer they needed to square the game. Sadly, their shooter was backed up a little too close to the sideline, and inadvertently stepped out of bounds on the catch to give it back over. 

With 1.5 left, it was Stanley at the Dublin line holding the ice pick. Though he failed to jab it home on back-to-back misses, the Irish came up with the rebound to kill the clock anyway. 

McRae had 14 points and Quan Lovett tacked on 12 to the Irish total. Floyd’s 14 and Rozier’s 13 led East Laurens, whose Skyler Snead and Bryson Hazley chipped in nine each. 

It was a slightly better second half for Central’s girls that made five points’ difference in the Lady Irish quarterfinal, as the Chargers pulled free of a halftime tie to survive and advance for a Thursday rematch with East Laurens, which we’ll get to in a minute. 

They outscored Dublin 26-21 over the last two periods with the help of five 3-pointers, four of them by top scorer JaMyree Simmons, who finished with 17. 

The Lady Irish knocked down three of those in response, two factoring into the 16-point night by leader Jordan Renfroe, but weren’t otherwise able to break the overall sluggish pace of offense that carried over from the first half. 

Khalil Maddox, with 10, was Dublin’s only other player in double figures. 

Central, impressively, pulled off the win with only six players dressed as a key chunk of its roster served out the back half of two-game suspensions resulting from the end-of-game kerfuffle that broke out in a next-to-last regular season game at East Laurens the week before. 

Adding an extra layer of interest to Thursday’s pending rematch (a first of four games on the semifinal slate beginning at 4 p.m.) is that the Falcons, who were slapped with several player bans of their own, haven’t yet had a chance to play a second game since the incident thanks to their triple-bye into the region semis as the No. 2 seed.

So East, which played its regular-season finale at Northeast last Friday with only eight players, is expected to have to do the same before a shot to return to full strength on Friday. 

The Falcons, who are back hoping for a shot to defend their 2025 region championship, were 41-38 winners in that lone previous matchup. 

Visit Region Tournament Central for all of this week’s results, and the remaining schedule of region 2-High A and 4-AAA tournaments, which will both resume Thursday.

– The Macon Melody’s Jason Vorhees contributed to this report.