BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: East Laurens edges Dublin; West Laurens girls win in tight split with ARC

No matter what you might be sure of in a given season, rivalry games never seem to play out in predictable fashion. 

That was true of Tuesday’s meeting – a first of the season – between Dublin and East Laurens, which rightly delivered its share of the unexpected in two games that ran at least partially counter to what the teams’ records and recent trends might lead you to presume. 

Though they still wound up completing a sweep, the Falcons had their hands full in both, as Dublin’s girls hung around fairly deep into the third quarter of a competitive game, and the Irish boys the whole way in an upset bid that remained alive right up until the final buzzer. 

East Laurens broke things open midway through the second half to ultimately run away with the girls’ game 53-25, before surviving a nailbiter to win the boys’, 55-53. 

The wins, for each a third in a row, keep its teams perched near or at the top of the region 2-High A standings. 

The Lady Falcons (9-2, 4-0 region) remain in a first-place deadlock with Washington County that’s due to be broken up when the Golden Hawks visit their home floor Friday. 

The Eastside boys (8-3, 3-1 region 2-High A) trail WACO and top-ranked Southwest Macon in a three-way tie of teams just a game out of first. 

Dublin’s are near the back, the girls (4-7, 1-3 region) eighth and boys (2-7, 0-4 region) 10th, in the present standings, though some positive recent trends in their play going back to late December continued Tuesday in two more strong starts. 

The Lady Irish were composed and consistent on the offensive end, and reliably got the ball into the post for scoring opportunities that turned into free throws early in the game, as East Laurens played at its usual pace but struggled to capitalize in many of the same situations. 

The foul shots helped them span an early six-point gap to tie things up near the end of the first quarter as Jordan Renfroe sunk a pair to make it 10 apiece, though a couple more by  D’Nya Rozier on the other end got the Lady Falcons back up 12-10 after one. 

Their offensive fortunes improved in the second, but East didn’t pull away. 

Dublin caught fire after dropping behind by nine, sandwiching a Rainna Wyatt 3-pointer with multiple field goals  to get back within a few before the Lady Falcons closed the half with some answers, and finishing up by eight. 

East Laurens only began bringing some full-court pressure a few minutes in, but the Lady Irish had far fewer issues advancing the basketball than scoring, as their shooting success completely fell off. 

Keasia Jackson, on a short hook shot with a minute to go in the third, wound up with the only field goal of the half after the Lady Falcons had strung together 13 unanswered points. 

In all, Dublin was outscored 25-5 the duration of the second half. Its remaining points came at the free throw line.

East’s Deanna Lowther (16 points, 20 rebounds) and Garyunna Mitchell (10 and 10, plus six steals) each posted double-doubles. The Lady Falcons’ Alasia Wiggins added 10 points and five boards. 

Renfroe’s six points, and five each by Wyatt and Khalil Maddox, led the Lady Irish scoring count. 

Ja’Mya Tinsley had four of Dublin’s five blocked shots. Jackson brought in 11 rebounds. 

Some pieces that have seemed a bit scattered for the Irish boys this season finally came together over four quarters that were some of their most focused, organized and consistent to date. 

Their increasingly cohesive basketball likely owed to several different factors, including the ongoing 3-point shooting hot streak of Jaydon McRae, who had four and 13 points. But none of them were bigger Tuesday night than the emergence of QuanTavis Lovett – playing only his third game of the season – as a presence inside that’s largely been nonexistent. 

The senior led the team in points (16) and rebounds (7), but swatted seven East Laurens shots for perhaps his most head-turning impact. 

And for what seemed like the first time in a while, Dublin was able to reciprocate some of the disruption near the basket that’s taken a heavy toll on its penetration-reliant offense going the other direction. 

Though Skyler Snead (14), Major Floyd (11) and Zion Dixon (10) each made double-figures, and Bryson Hazley (9) and Jeremiah Rozier (7) were right on the verge, Lovett’s authoritative rim-protection kept the Falcons from rallying. 

East Laurens baskets were mostly isolated in a first half that the Irish started and finished confidently, growing their tip-to-horn lead all the way to 12, 31-19, before powering into the locker room with a final stop as time expired. 

But the Falcons, well off their game in the first 16 minutes, got things together as they got into the third quarter. 

Dublin started just as fast, running the lead back out to 13 thanks to a couple of triples by McRae and Chris Dixon (who finished with nine points) in the first three minutes. 

But a Snead answer reversed the momentum as East Laurens reeled off seven points in a row, then whittled the number down to three on a four-point spurt at the very end of the period. 

Floyd quickly tied the game at 45 with a basket, and one, less than a minute into the fourth. And an exciting back-and-forth sparring match followed from there. 

Hazley put the Falcons in their first lead with a subsequent layup. 

Dublin responded with an equalizer from Lovett, then a 3-pointer by McRae to go back in front. 

East Laurens chipped away two points before Floyd tied the game back at 50s with the back end of a pair at the line. He’d hit a contested shot to put the Falcons back up again, but a foul on the end of a Harris connection gave the Irish a chance to flip the lead back, and he converted the extra point to make the score 53-52 with a little more than a minute to go. 

But the visitors came through with another basket to get in front 54-53, and stayed there as Dublin hit a series of unfortunate snags in the last 60. 

Forced to foul after an East Laurens stop, the Irish lucked up as Floyd missed both in a set of two. But Zion Dixon tracked down the ball off a long kick to the corner for an offensive re, and went to the line to add one onto the lead on the front side. 

Dublin rebounded his miss of the second, advanced it and called time with 18 seconds, but couldn’t get the ball back in play as its inbounder froze up, and failed to beat the five-count. 

East Laurens again declined to slam the door as two more foul shots clanked away, and the Irish had ample time to set up two final heaves – one by McRae and a second by Harris off an offensive board at the last second – that wouldn’t go. 

It was a fourth loss in a stretch of five games for Dublin that have been decided by a total of only 13 points. 

West Laurens girls 46, Richmond Academy 37

The visitors staged a late run to narrow the Lady Raiders’ 16-point lead down to the final margin of nine, but overall had no defensive answers for either in the duo of Maddie Ridgeway, their leading scorer with 17, or Brooklyn Jackson, who was right behind with 15. Both also contributed multiple fast-break assists along the way. 

Jackson had eight out of 10 unanswered over about a four-minute span in the first quarter to help them grab control early, then Ridgway scored seven in a row to go up double digits, 17-6, by the end of the period. 

West Laurens (5-7, 4-4 region 4-AAA) built on a 10-point halftime lead with a 9-0 run to open the third quarter. 

ARC 44, West Laurens boys 42

The Raiders (3-11, 1-7 region) were in a tight one the whole way, but came up just short in their efforts to make it three-straight home wins. 

Their biggest lead, and deficit, through three quarters numbered just four points. 

ARC took its biggest of the night on a 6-0 run to break a 37-all tie near the 4-minute mark of the fourth quarter. 

A Shannon Adkins 3-point play narrowed the number to one with 44 seconds left, and West Laurens forced a turnover and runout for a chance to grab the lead, but a blocked shot by Reggie James denied the opportunity with 15 seconds remaining. 

The Raiders had to foul and Jacobian Sturgiss split free throws to set up a chance at the tie on a final possession. Brandon Stephens’ contested runner – he was looking for a foul that wouldn’t be called – sailed over the goal and out of bounds as time expired.

Next…

Region play continues into the weekend for Dublin, East and West Laurens, who will each start it out with key league matchups on Friday night. The Falcons, who host WACO in a pivotal set Friday night, will have another one to follow Saturday as its teams take on two more tests at Bleckley County.

The Irish continue their homestand with Jefferson County in town Friday night before a shot to avenge two losses from December against the Raiders, who are set to visit the Stuckey Court after playing a Friday-night rematch at Baldwin.