The Long County boys continued their winning ways over the weekend, picking up two more victories over Bryan and Ware counties.
Friday, playing in Ludowici, the Blue Tide defeated the Redskins 74-61. The leading scorers for the home team were Perrell Brisbane (16 points), Henry Blair (12), Eric Shaw (11), Brendon Scott (10) and Christian Bass (10).
Long County head coach Deshon Brock said that despite his team starting slow, they were able to take a 12-point lead into the half.
“I thought we started out a little slow in the first quarter and turned it up in the second quarter,” Brock said. “In the third, we were able to push our 12-point halftime lead to 23. But then, we took our foot off the gas and let Bryan County back into the game.”
He said he was pleased with the win, but that his team has got to get better at finishing games.
“This game could have gotten ugly because we stopped playing quality defense and got a little careless with the basketball, (but it) was a good learning experience for us. Hopefully, we learned something from this and it won’t happen again,” Brock said.
Saturday, Long County took on Ware County in Waycross in a non-region matchup. Though the game was closer than expected, the Blue Tide pulled out a 74-68 win.
Leading scorers for Long County were Bass (16), Blair (15), Ryhiem Izzard (9) and Xavier Stapleton (9).
“We were shorthanded tonight, and Terry Smith stepped into the lineup and came up big with a couple of three’s, but he suffered an injury that shortened a night that looked promising for him, and I hate that,” Brock said.
The coach said he was expecting a smaller team on, but that with the return of several football players Ware County was a much bigger team.
“I challenged my big men, James Forrest and Christian Bass, to step up and give me some rebounds and they did,” Brock said. “Also, Henry Blair consistently came up with some timely baskets and Ryhiem Izzard, after a hard foul, woke up and played great defense.”
With the win, the Blue Tide improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in Region 2-AA.
Tuesday, Long County was to take on Jeff Davis (5-3) in Hazlehurst in more region action. Results from that game were not available in time for this story. Saturday, the Blue Tide are back at home against Wayne County (3-7). When they met earlier this year in Jesup, the Yellow Jackets prevailed 74-64. Tipoff will be at 6:30 p.m.