TIFTON — The Tift County Blue Devils survived a rough showdown with the Savannah Blue Jackets, 65-55, in a battle of two of the state's top teams.

Tift entered the game ranked No. 1 in Class AAAAAA, while Savannah was ranked first in the latest Class AAA poll.

Savannah quickly established they were going to play a physical game. Only seconds after grabbing the opening tip, Chris Cokley threw down a dunk to start the scoring for the Blue Jackets. Tift responded with finesse, Brannen Greene's three-pointer giving them the lead on their first offensive possession. The first frame was a seesaw, both teams struggling to establish a presence, Tift pulling away to end the quarter, 15-10.

The lead would increase to 20-10, but the Jackets came clawing back. Jason Lawton's jumper made it 24-22 Tift three minutes before the break. Savannah would have a chance to tie it when the Devils turned it over, but they would commit their own error on an inbounds pass and the game slowly began slipping away from them. They were down Tfour when Jackets' coach Tim Jordan was assessed a technical foul with 11 seconds on the clock. Greene would hit one two free throws and Tadric Jackson would make a layup to up the lead to seven at the horn and the Jackets would never threaten again.

The Blue Devils rattled off six consecutive points to start the third quarter, including a Greene long bomb from way beyond the arc before their opposition was able to muster a single point on their side of the scoreboard. Savannah's grinding play kept Tift coach Eric Holland frequently substituting and saw consecutive double fouls called and an intentional foul called on Jamal Norman when he sent Greene flying on a drive to the hoop. A second technical foul continued the woes for the Jackets, when Josh Young was flagged late in the quarter. In the meantime, the lead was pushed to 11, 46-35, heading in the fourth quarter.

Savannah was able to cut the lead to six points on two occasions in the fourth, but were never close enough to give the Devils significant worry and each mini-rally was quelled by a timely basket to ensure the momentum stayed with the home team. Savannah was only able to gain a point advantage overall in the final eight minutes, giving the Devils the 65-55 victory.

Greene finished with 32 points, with nearly two equal halves. He scored 15 in the first and 17 in the second. Jackson had 15 and Ladarius Stewart added eight. For Savannah, Norman led with 13 points. Four others - Cokley, Shakir Chisholm, Jermaine Williams and Jovante Spivey - had eight.

For a quarter, the contest between the Lady Blue Jackets and Lady Devils was a close one. Savannah even had the lead, 2-0 when Keiana Robbins scored on the opening possession. However, it would be their only lead of the night.

Tift would jump out to a 10-5 lead midway through the frame when Alexis Johnson hit a jumper, but Savannah kept it close, closing the gap to 10-12 to end the quarter.

At this point, it looked like it was going to an evenly-matched game, but Julie Conner's Lady Devils had their own plans. Dorian Jordan made it a four-point game to start the second and within 90 seconds, it was an eight-point game. Then 15 a minute later. They were up 18 before Savannah could finally find the inside of the net again and carried a 32-18 lead into the lockerroom at the half.

The third quarter was more of the same, with the surging Lady Devils on top by 20 for most of period and in the fourth, there would be no slacking as the lead ballooned to 28 with 1:35 remaining. The Lady Jackets would manage a free throw in the closing seconds to knock it down to 27, 65-38.

The wrecking crew of Dee Dee DeShazer and Alexis Johnson lit up the scoreboard again for Tift with 23 and 19, respectively. Jordan and Staceyanna Murrell each scored seven. Savannah was topped by Kierstan Green's 16 and Robbins' 12. Only one other Lady Jacket had more than two points.

In other games played Saturday:



Pearl Cohn 40

Cook 39

The Cook Hornets met their second team from Nashville in a week; however, the Tennessee-based Pearl Cohn Firebirds did not produce the same result as their game with the Berrien Rebels. The Firebirds were up four, 23-19 at the half, but Cook regained the lead, 30-29, at the end of the third. Three three-pointers in the final quarter helped lift Cohn to the 40-39 victory.

Cook was led by Justin McCormick's 10 and Rakeem Battle's 9. J.T. Marable had 12 and M. Battle 11 for the Firebirds.



NSWR 73

Toombs County 43

The Northside Eagles jumped out to a 10 point lead after one quarter, 18-8 and increased it to 38-21 at the break. Tift County Blue Devil alumnus Keary Brownlee did not see things get easier in the second half as his Bulldogs were outscored, 35-22, for a 73-43 finish.

Northside was led by Justin Burnman (11) and Jarvis Smith (10). Toombs had Chris Mobley (16) and Gary Terrell (11) in double digits. Thirteen players scored for the Eagles.



South Cobb 55

Randolph-Clay 43

The game between the Eagles from Austell and the Randolph-Clay Red Devils was a low-scoring one for the first half. South Cobb led 17-11. Both offenses would speed up in the third quarter, both teams managing to double their points in eight minutes and then explode for a combined 42 points in the fourth. South Cobb had the better end of the scoring spree, winning 55-43.

Gary McCrae for Randolph-Clay led all scorers with 20 points. Teammate Cornelius Bennett scored 15. For South Cobb, it was Nile Oates with 15, Aaryion Browning with 13 and Jalen Cook with 12.

Archer 57, Marist 55

Two metro Atlanta teams fought a close one in Tifton, the Archer Tigers pulling out a two-point win in a game that saw the leaders change at the end of every quarter. Archer led, 25-24, at halftime.

Marist had a three point lead with 43 seconds left, but the Tigers rallied off a turnover and a foul to grab a 55-54 lead with 33 ticks left. The War Eagles tied it again 11 seconds later on a free throw, but fouled Archer's Randall Smith with only three seconds remaining. Smith drilled both charity shots. The Tigers then flicked away an inbounds pass to secure the win.

Marist's Quinton Stephens topped all scorers with 25 points, 14 of them coming in the second quarter. Marcus Miller added nine. Smith led Archer with 24, with teammate Nafis Floyd contributing 10.



Valdosta 81

Sol C. Johnson 79

This game started out seeing more jump balls (two) in the first three minutes than points (zero) when the Valdosta Wildcats met the Johnson Atom Smashers from Savannah. Things finally kicked into offensive gear a little over three minutes into the game when Johnson's Quarterman nailed a three-pointer to put the first dent on the scoreboard. The first quarter ended at a cautious 13-13 before both the Wildcats and Atom Smashers started lighting it up. Thirty-seven combined points fell in the second quarter, including a last second layup by Bonds of Johnson to give them a 32-31 halftime lead.

Neither team could get a major advantage in the second half. Valdosta had a five-point lead with 6:20 to go in the third, but only three minutes later, the Atom Smashers had an eight-point lead of their own. Johnson at this point looked to try to make it a runaway, but Wildcat Kiante Scruggs' lone basket of the night pulled it back to five points to close out the third.

The fourth quarter would turn into a frenzy of scoring. Valdosta tied it at 7:21. Johnson pushed it back to five points within seconds. The Cats cut it to two at a minute later, but the Smashers had it back up to nine in 90 seconds. Valdosta would then start a furious rally. Clarence Smith made it a three-point game at 2:40 and cut it to one - 78-77 - with a driving layup with 26 seconds. Johnson got a bit of insurance with a free throw, but with 14 seconds remaining, Smith hit a three-pointer to give the Cats the 81-79 lead, which would prove to be the game-winner.

Valdosta's offense was a two-man show for the evening. Rashad Lewis had 34 while Smith had 33. Together, they had 41 of the Cats' 50 second half points. Quarterman and Bonds led Johnson with 22. A. Maxwell added 12.

*Friday night, Dr. Eric Holland secured his 200th career victory as the Tift County Blue Devils defeated the Mill Creek Hawks, 62-51. Tift led, 13-12 after one quarter, but the Hawks tied it, 25-25 at the half. The Devils grabbed an advantage in the third quarter, leading by 10 and added 19 more fourth quarter points to win.

Tadric Jackson and Brannen Greene shared high scorer accolades, each finishing with 16 points. DJ Bryant added 12. Mill Creek was led by Elijah Bennett's 16 and Trevon Shaw's 14.