BASKETBALL: Trinity sweeps Twiggs County as teams turn corner into December stretch

You could call the Trinity Crusaders St. Patrick, because they drove the snakes out of Dublin in a home sweep of the Twiggs County Cobras Monday night. 

Both their clubs out-battled the visitors from Jeffersonville, the girls by a lot to take their win streak to three with a 62-14 final score. Trinity’s boys hung onto a late second-half lead in a much closer one to prevail 58-54 and end their two-game losing streak. 

Trinity returns home Friday to host Tattnall Square.

Jamarion Ricks still has plenty of developing to do, but the young center showed once again Monday just how impactful his presence inside can be for a Trinity lineup that has come to life since the start of December. 

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound junior, who transferred from Dublin earlier this year, had 14 points and rebounds for his second double-double of the season as the Crusaders outplayed Twiggs County to pull back to a game above .500 with their fourth win in the last six. 

His rebounding, defense and post play, each night that goes by, are looking more and more like the key ingredients that have catalyzed the recent breakout for a Trinity lineup heavy on spot-up shooters, as well as a John Williams offense sharing some heavy similarities, largely in its preference for working inside-out, to the Crusaders’ offensive identity during their 2023 state title run his last season in charge. 

Ricks’ reach around both panes of glass was instrumental in their heavy rebounding advantage over a Twiggs lineup that, positions 1-5, was quite long, but had no player with the height or physicality to match. 

On the offensive end, the Crusaders weren’t at all shy about tossing the ball his way near the low blocks, where the mismatch created outside shooting opportunities for teammates. And they converted on eight 3-point opportunities to stay on a recent hot streak from deep. 

Anytime Twiggs left him isolated 1-on-1, Ricks usually found a good look at the basket. It was only a matter of putting it in. 

For now, finding and keeping that touch around the rim is about all that’s separating him and the Crusaders from really taking off. 

They had a few chances to do so in Monday’s matchup, though Twiggs was able to recover and stay within striking distance thanks to a few of those droughts – the biggest coming midway through the second quarter when Trinity went the better part of four minutes without a score, and the Cobras climbed from a decent-sized hole to grab a brief lead before halftime. 

But Ricks’ solid footwork and ball-handling around the paint had him in position to score, or at least get to the line, far more often than not. And he’d find the groove again after the string of empty possessions ran its course. 

Picking up the slack to keep the offense going was another player coming into his own in point guard Jagger George, who’s scored in double figures every time out, and put up 25 Monday to finish just two off his season best. 

The sophomore showed some command of the court and shot-making skills to rival those of his older brother Will as he attacked the hole and pulled up to nail three triples. 

He’d pour in eight of Trinity’s 15 points in the last quarter to put away the victory. 

The Cobras, led by the 18 points of Terrell Coley and 15 of Demontrez Brown, were unable to get much working inside, and had to mostly live and die by the 3. 

A few fell late, including a deep swisher by Brown after a Trinity shot clock violation left the door cracked with about 20 seconds to go, and Twiggs cut the Crusaders’ 57-51 advantage to three. 

But George knocked down one of two free throws on the other end to get the lead back to four to close the book on the Cobras’ chances. 

Twiggs narrowed the gap to two a handful of times in the fourth, but George kept splitting to goal for key baskets. 

Ricks hit an and-one, and converted a free-throw shooting situation later and George hit a 3 from straight at the top to keep the Crusaders two possessions in front for the duration of the last four. 

His last rip to the bucket came with a minute to go to put the Crusaders up by the commanding number of 57-51. 

Twiggs hit six 3-pointers, but was 6-of-14 at the line. 

Trinity missed only four of its 16 free throws. 

The Lady Crusaders forced what seemed like a million turnovers in their thorough rout of the Lady Cobras, dropping nine unanswered points – including a Maddy George 3 – in the first two minutes of the contest. 

The home side read 18, with nearly six minutes off the clock before Twiggs County’s first point on a free throw by JaMiyah Glover. 

It was an 18-3 spread after one, and a 39-5 count at haltime would shorten both the third and fourth quarters to six minutes each.