HOOPS ROUNDUP: West Laurens sweeps Aquinas, Dublin; East Laurens takes all four at ACE, vs. Treutlen

The luck of the Irish was no good on either Friday or Saturday night in Dexter, as West Laurens basketball teams swept two sets of Fighting Irish over a weekend homestand. 

The Raiders came away with a pot – er, basket – of gold with wins in each of the four, Friday against region 4-AAA foe Aquinas and Saturday against crosstown rival Dublin. 

Though the shooting luck of both West Laurens teams remained hit-or-miss, defense proved the most valuable charm in the pocket of each as its girls posted wins No. 3 and 4 in a row, and boys their first two of the season. 

Both squads rolled past Aquinas in the first of the weekend, the Lady Raiders 48-31 and boys 59-47. Saturday, the West Laurens girls hung onto a late lead to edge Dublin 47-45. The Raider boys needed overtime to overcome the in-town Irish by a final of 73-68. 

The girls’ half of the Saturday twin bill was about as defensive as a game could get. 

Both sides produced frequent turnovers and stops, but a minimum of points on the other end. 

Neither could seem to capitalize very often early in what stayed a single-possession game for the bulk of the first half. 

West Laurens’ confidence getting it through Irish pressure and over half-court was superior. But the fast-break speed of Dublin off of the rare Lady Raider turnover, and its length protecting the basket, were equalizers that kept it almost dead even. 

West led 21-20 through the half. But all those trends reversed on the other side as it opened the second half on a 13-0 tear. 

The Lady Irish got hot toward the end, and closed out the period on a 13-4 to make up most of the lost ground, and were right back about where they started with a quarter to go. 

The fourth was a staring contest, with scoring isolated to a handful of field goals by either side. Dublin’s Khalil Maddox and Keasia Jackson had one each, and Jordan Renfroe hit a couple. 

West Laurens countered with only one each by Ja’Halee Snead, Brooklyn Jackson and Demmie Moss. 

The rest of the scoring was at the free throw line, although that only amounted to three extra points on either side of the ledger as both struggled to convert opportunities as the Irish angled to narrow, and the Raiders to widen, a late deficit that stood at four with a minute to go. 

Dublin did its best to attack its final window of opportunity, chipping off a point each at the line on back-to-back possessions before holding West Laurens scoreless on another consecutive trip to get the ball back down 46-44. 

But Maddox, on a collision with Moss near the top of the key, was called for a difference-making charge that gave it back to the Lady Raiders with 11 seconds to go, and the teams traded a free throw each before time ran out. 

West Laurens, which was 7-for-19 at the foul line, was led by Jackson’s 16, along with the 10 of Maddie Ridgway and eight of Moss. 

Dublin, 11-out-of-32 in free throws, was paced by the 12 of Maddox, 10 of Renfroe and eight of Jackson. 

The boys’ matchup had some larger momentum swings, but seemed almost just as neck-and-neck the entire way as the teams – in similar fashion – fought to do as much as possible to limit the other’s highest-percentage looks near the bucket. 

Neither team could come up with an edge in a first half that was spent mostly at the free throw line, and both went to the locker room with 30 points each. 

West Laurens heated up to score 18, and held Dublin to 10, in the third quarter. But the Irish turned the tables to recoup the eight points in the last quarter of regulation and force overtime, in which the Raiders ran a five-point edge, 14-9, to come out on top. 

Dublin, shooting 44 percent from the field and missing only five of 20 opportunities at the line, had by far the more consistent offensive performance. 

But the greater volume of chances for West Laurens – primarily at the line where the Raiders made 25 of 48 – were a slight difference-maker for the home team in a second-straight win. 

West also out-shot the Irish 6-3 from deep. 

Four Raiders – Shannon Adkins with 15 points, Brandon Stephens with 13, Devyn Watkins with 11 and Drew Kinchen with 10 – reached double figures. 

Glen Harris (22) and Jaydon McRae (13) led the Irish, who were plus-six on the boards with the help of 25 rebounds from Patrick Caldwell. 

West Laurens girls 48, Aquinas 31

The Lady Raiders converted their free throws, and knocked down a few key field goals, to slowly pry this one open in the third quarter, as a four-point lead out of halftime grew to an edge of 19  

Jackson (17), Snead (13) and Ridgway (11) combined to score all but seven of West Laurens’ points

West Laurens boys 59, Aquinas 47 

Similar to the game before, the Raiders dominated the third quarter – by a count of 17-4 – to take over a close game they led by only one at the half. 

Kingston O’Neal’s 21 points – including three made 3-pointers – and 11 by Adkins (who grabbed 13 rebounds for a double-double) led the way. 

Dublin girls 47, Southwest Macon 42 

Jackson’s double-double, of 14 points and 12 rebounds, helped the Lady Irish pick up their second win, though they had to hold off a furious rally in the fourth quarter after Southwest cut their lead of 12 down to six twice, and five once, in the last two minutes. Dublin (2-3, 1-1 region 2-High A) wasn’t able to slam the door, but did run out the clock on the Patriots before any other points hit the board. 

Renfroe added 11, and Maddox nine, to the Irish tally, which also included 13 steals and seven blocks. 

Southwest 100, Dublin boys 49 

The Patriots scored 43 in the third quarter to run away with a game that was already firmly in hand with a 22-point edge by halftime. 

Dublin (1-4, 0-2 region) kept it close through a quarter, and turned a couple long rebounds into fast-breaks late in the second to stay in striking distance. But an 11-1 run into the half for Southwest, which would outscore the Irish 54-12 over the full 11-minute stretch, sent the game on its course. 

C.J. Howard, with 32 points, and Chase Dupree, exploding for 24, combined for eight of the Patriots’ 12 3-pointers. 

East Laurens girls 56, ACE Charter 48

Jameria Bing scored 19 to lead a productive night for the Lady Falcons in their third-straight win, but double-digit boards by Garyunna Mitchell (who had 14 to go along with 12 points, three steals and two blocked shots in a double-double), Deanna Lowther (12, plus nine points) and Zahmaria Robinson (10) were just as instrumental in helping them keep a scrappy ACE team at arm’s length down the stretch of the second half. 

Down 10 at the break, the Gryphons ran a four-point surplus in the third quarter to get back in it, but never got any closer over the last eight minutes. 

East Laurens boys 78, ACE 50

Skyler Snead had 16 and Zion Dixon 12 to lead 11 Falcons with points – six with made triples in the team’s best long-range shooting effort to date – in a solid runaway. 

Dixon (eight) and Kelvion King (seven) dominated on the glass as East out-rebounded ACE 46-18. 

East Laurens girls 78, Treutlen 24 

Bing put up 25, Mitchell 18 (along with 10 rebounds, three assists, five steals and three blocked shots in a double-double) and Deanna Lowther 12 in a fourth-straight for the Lady Falcons, whose overwhelming pressure forced 21 steals. 

Baskets off turnovers were a big part of a dominant stretch in the first quarter that kept Treutlen without a field goal until they’d built up a 15-1 lead. East Laurens (5-1, 2-0 region 2-High A) rode an 11-point unanswered streak in the first two minutes of quarter 2 to lead of 35-7. 

East Laurens boys 67, Treutlen 60 

The Falcons were up big, by 14 at the end of the third, but felt some pressure down the stretch as Treutlen narrowed the lead to three by midway through the fourth quarter. The Vikings were within six when a basket early in the last minute put the game away. 

Braylon Makaya caught fire from deep with six made 3-pointers to lead East Laurens (4-2, 1-1 region) with 20 points, and joined Kelvion King with eight rebounds. 

Skyler Snead added 13 points, and Major Floyd 10. 

Next… 

East Laurens hosts Bleckley County, Dublin welcomes ACE and West Laurens visits Hephzibah as region play continues for each on Tuesday night.