Boys Friday Roundup: Colonels, Eagles pick up wins
All five local high school boys teams were in action Friday night with both Cass and Excel Christian snapping losing skids with their region victories.
Elsewhere Cartersville lost at home to Class AAAA 2nd-ranked Sandy Creek, Woodland fell to visiting Rome, and Adairsville lost at home to North Murray.
CASS BOYS 67, PAULDING COUNTY 62
The Colonels built a nice lead at Paulding County Friday night, but had to hold off the host Patriots down the stretch for a 67-62 Region 7-AAAAA win. The victory by Cass snapped a three-game losing streak. Cass led 31-23 at the intermission and extended their lead to 53-39 after three quarters before holding on for a five-point win. Braxton Benham led the Colonels with 16 points. Zaylan Chaney followed with 14. Jordan Ford totaled nine. Jaquan Heard (photo) scored eight and Alfred Washington added seven for Cass. Andrew Glaze finished with six. C.J. Pipkin scored five and Ethan McIntyre added two points. Keon Sedgwick had a game-high 23 points for Paulding County (13-6, 5-5). Kervens Yacinthe added 13 for the Patriots. Cass (11-8, 6-4) plays Saturday afternoon at East Paulding at 12:30 p.m.
EXCEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY BOYS 58, GORDON LEE 53 The Excel Christian Eagles put an end to a 10-game losing streak Friday night with a 58-53 Region 6-A win over visiting Gordon Lee at The Nest. Excel trailed 29-22 at the intermission, but pushed past the Trojans in the third quarter by outscoring Gordon Lee 19-2 in the period. The Eagles then held off the visitors in the final period for a five-point win. Rayshawn Womack paced ECA with 23 points. Rashard Doyal scored 14. Kalil Holley had 11 points. Brenden Quillin tossed in eight and Trippe Anderson added two points. Weston Beagles led Gordon Lee (4-13, 0-7) with 18 points. Excel Christian (3-13, 2-4) travels to Mt. Zion-Carroll Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. start. SANDY CREEK 76, CARTERSVILLE BOYS 69 Jabari Smith scored 31 points including a dozen in the final eight minutes Friday night at The Storm Center as Class AAAA 2nd-ranked Sandy Creek improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in Region 5-AAAA with a seven-point win over the Hurricanes. Kolbe Benham scored 28 points to lead Cartersville (5-7, 1-3). The Canes host Class AAAA 5th-ranked Chapel Hill Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in another region tilt. NORTH MURRAY 49, ADAIRSVILLE BOYS 47 The Adairsville Tigers made a furious comeback in the third quarter Friday night to get back into their game with visiting North Murray, but the region-leading Mountaineers held on for a 49-47 win. Ty Kendrick scored 13 and Landen Burrell had 12 points for the Mountaineers. North Murray led 12-6 after one quarter and 24-15 at halftime, but Adairsville narrowed the margin to 37-34 by the end of the third quarter before falling by two points. Gaven Crunkleton led the Tigers with 14 points. Savaun Henderson followed with 11. Conner Crunkleton and Malachi Gardner added nine and eight points, respectively. Jaxon Welchel finished with four and Courtney Slocum one point. North Murray improved to 12-5 for the season and 8-0 in Region 6-AAA.
Adairsville (7-10, 4-6) will look to snap a three-game skid Saturday night at home at 7:30 p.m. against Pickens. ROME 66, WOODLAND BOYS 46 Rome led 22-8 after one quarter and later outscored the Wildcats 27-8 in the third quarter on their way to a 20-point win at Woodland Friday night. DiAnthony Heathcock scored 11 points for Woodland in the loss. Rome improved to 3-13 on the season and 2-7 in Region 7-AAAAA. Woodland (2-16, 0-10) hosts Paulding County Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.
