The Long County boys’ basketball team moved into the Sweet 16 round of the Georgia High School Association AA basketball tournament with a 73-54 win over Metter.

Even though the score makes it look like the game was an easy victory for the Blue Tide, it was anything but that as the Tigers fought tooth-and-nail with Long County for most of the night.

The hometown fans got a surprise as the Tigers jumped out to a 14-12 lead in the first period. In the second quarter, Long County was able to fight back and, at the half, the Blue Tide held a narrow 23-21 lead. In the third period, the Tigers came out hard, and the game was still anybody’s to win after three quarters, with only three points separating the teams. But in the fourth period, the Blue Tide showed why they went into the game as the clear favorite.

Playing aggressive man-to-man defense, Long County outhustled and outshot Metter 23-7 to take the 19-point victory. One of the key players to shine in the final period was the Blue Tide’s Terry Smith, who went 7 for 8 at the free-throw line. The leading scorers for the Blue Tide were Henry Blair with 16points, Perrell Brisbane with 15 and Smith with 12. The leading scorer for the Tigers was Dwight Williams with 10 points. With the loss

Metter fell to 8-21, while Long County improved to 20-7.
The road to a state title only got harder for the Blue Tide on Saturday as they hosted Atlanta powerhouse Lovett. The Lions took a 21-6 record into the game, coming off a big 64-49 win over Coosa. Lovett also went into that game as the No. 5 team in the state in the AA MaxPrep Power Poll, compared to Long County going in ranked at No. 21.

But even though on paper the Blue Tide may have been the underdog, when playing at home this year they had been exceptionally tough, posting a 9-3 winning record. Pick up a Wednesday Courier and go to www.coastalcourier.com to see if Long County was able to advance to the Elite Eight.