Tough Saturday for local boys teams
It was a difficult afternoon and early evening Saturday for local high school basketball teams with all teams in action dropping region contests. The Cartersville boys fell at Central-Carroll. Adairsville dropped a home matchup with Murray County. Woodland lost at Villa Rica and Excel Christian Academy lost to Bowdon.
CENTRAL-CAROLL 68, CARTERSVILLE 61
The host Lions pulled out a nip-and-tuck battle with the Cartersville Hurricanes Saturday in Carrollton, defeating the Canes 68-61. Cartersville led 12-9 after the first eight minutes, but Central held two point leads both at halftime and at the end of the third quarter before going on to win by seven. Canden McClure scored a game-high 21 points for the Lions. Trey Powell followed with 16 and Jayden Greene contributed 12 points for Central-Carroll (10-5, 1-1). Kolbe Benham led Cartersville with 18 points. Robert Novak (photo) and Kyler Johnson scored 12 each for the Canes. Cartersville (5-5, 1-1 Region 5-AAAA) travels to LaGrange Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip. The Hurricanes then host Sandy Creek Friday night and Chapel Hill Saturday night at The Storm Center. Both of those games are also 7:30 p.m. starts. MURRAY COUNTY 59, ADAIRSVILLE BOYS 41 A slow start buried Adairsville’s chances Saturday in a 59-41 home loss to Murray County. The Tigers failed to score in the opening quarter and found themselves down 19-0. Adairsville cut the lead to 27-12 by halftime and were down 39-27 at the end of the third quarter but could not overcome the early deficit. Athan Hicks poured in 35 points for the visiting Indians. Haden Newport added 16 for Murray County (11-4, 5-3). Jaxon Welchel led Adairsville with 11 points. Malachi Gardner followed with 10. Gaven Crunkleton and Savaun Henderson added eight each for the Tigers. Adairsville (7-9, 4-5) plays at Ringgold Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. VILLA RICA 85, WOODLAND BOYS 33 Four Villa Rica players reached double figures Saturday to lead the hosting Wildcats past the Woodland boys, 85-33. Jai Ackey (21 points), Demarcus Bloutt (20), Phillip Zachery (14), and Markell Swanigan (10) all scored in double digits for Villa Rica. DiAnthony Heathcock scored 17 points for Woodland. Villa Rica improved to 13-3 overall and 5-3 in Region 7-AAAAA. Woodland (2-14, 0-8) hosts East Paulding Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. and Rome Friday — also at 7:30 p.m. BOWDON 74, EXCEL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY BOYS 60 Bowdon outscored the Excel Christian Academy boys 20-7 in the third quarter Saturday evening to pull away in an eventual 14-point win over the Eagles. The visiting Red Devils led 17-12 after one quarter and 38-34 at halftime before pulling away to a 58-41 lead by the end of the third quarter. Tray Wyatt and Authur Johnson led Bowdon with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Kolton Drummond scored 12 and Kirequs Vaughn added 10 for the Red Devils. Rashard Doyle scored a game-high 18 points for Excel. Rayshawn Womack posted 12 points for the Eagles. Kalil Holley scored 10 while Jakaden Barkley and Brenden Quillin added eight points apiece. Bowdon improved to 9-6 overall and 2-3 in Region 6-A. ECA (2-12, 1-3) has a region home game with Christian Heritage Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and will host Gordon Central Friday at 6:30 p.m. at The Nest.
