The Blue Tide boys basketball team will be in the state playoffs for the fourth year in a row and they will have a tough road ahead of them. The boys, who are looking to make the Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row, will travel to Savannah this weekend to play the Windsor Forest Knights, the champion from Region 3-AAA. 

The Tide fell to Brantley County in the consolation game of the Region 2-AAA tournament on Friday, Feb. 8 and get rewarded with a trip to Savannah to play the Knights. Windsor Forest is 22-5 on the season and has been ranked in many top ten polls around the state for the latter half of the season. 

In Friday’s third place game, the Tide and Herons went to battle and it was a back-and-forth fight the entire contest. The Herons took an early 11-10 lead into the second quarter and then began opening up as they went on a 10-2 run to take a 24-16. 

However, the Tide closed the gap before halftime as they hit their last three-point shots and went on an 8-3 run. Sophomore Tostadas Pouncey hitting three of his last four and senior Nathan Francis hitting one at the buzzer to make the score 27-24. 

The Tide came out hot in the third quarter and were firing from all cylinders. They hit four of their six three-point shots with Pouncey hitting three and junior Donovan Sykes knocking one down as well. Xavier Carlton also added six points in the quarter to give the Tide a 44-42 lead going into the final quarter of play. 

However, the Tide got into foul trouble in the fourth and Brantley’s Auburn commit Jaylin Williams was almost automatic from the free throw line, sinking nine of his ten shots and giving his team the 65-60 win.

The Tide now go into the state playoffs having lost two straight games and have a losing record for the first time since 2015. The first round game will take place either Friday, Feb. 15 or Saturday, Feb. 16.