TIFTON — Tift County’s Blue Devil basketball teams had a short turnaround after Saturday after Friday night games on the coast. The mid-afternoon games to accommodate Richmond Hill was a turnaround on the scoreboard for the Blue Devil boys, 55-34, for their 10th win of the year.

With Makayla Bryant out with injury, Tift’s Lady Devils fell for the third time in Region 1 competition, 54-47.

Head coach Tommy Blackshear said his team played with energy Friday at Camden County, a three-point loss, but a better shooting day resulted in a much better outcome.

“We needed that,” Blackshear said after his team improved to 10-5, 1-2 in Region 1-6A.

The Devils built a 9-0 lead over the first 4:45 of the game and the Wildcats were never a threat.

Undersized against Tift, Richmond Hill had problems immediately when 6-8 Kaden Lawson stepped back for a three-pointer for the first points. J.J. Lamar drove the lane twice and was fouled twice on shots, making all four free throws. “J.J. got us going,” he said.

Dai’jon Hayes made the Wildcats’ defensive efforts even more difficult by popping a mid-range jumper in the opening minutes.

Joshua Scott got the ‘Cats on the scoreboard at 3:15. The 9-2 deficit was the closest they’d be after.

Cordell Nelson scored inside and Rio Brewton knocked down a trey from the top of the key. Tift dialed up frontcourt defensive pressure and Richmond Hill was terribly troubled in holding on to the ball, much less finding a good shot.

Blackshear said his crew was overall solid defensively all night.

Quay Bell scored on an offensive rebound with 13 seconds left to go up 19-4. The Wildcats thought they caught a break when Tift put them on the line with three seconds left, but when Brewton came down with the rebound on the second shot, he was fouled with two seconds and had foul shots of his own.

The score was 20-5 after the first eight minutes.

Richmond Hill’s woes deepened in the second quarter. Tift stretched the lead to 26-5 on Bell’s third basket of the half. The visitors’ first score of the second was on an Alonzo Miller runner five minutes in.

The Wildcats pulled a bit closer at the break, 26-12, but another slow start in the third wiped out any thoughts of a comeback.

Jevian Wilson had five points by himself in the third frame before Richmond Hill scored from the floor. Lamar continued to be hot from everywhere on the floor, with two three-point plays and another jump shot in the quarter.

Tift began flirting with a mercy rule late in the period, going up 26 (43-17) when Jaquavious Wilson posted up. Richmond Hill looked like they would stave that off on Amari Jordan free throws at 1:38, but the Devils had a quick run in them.

Haven McMiller got it back to a 26-point lead before Jarvis Howard increased it by two in the paint with 53 seconds to go.

Richmond Hill had the ball with three seconds to go in the third when a Wildcat charged into Kamari Holloman.

With the length of the floor to go and 2.3 seconds, Holloman let the inbounds pass a third of the way of the court before picking it up and firing to McMiller. From the pitchfork near the bench, McMiller let it fly, finding nothing but net as the horn sounded. At 50-19, the Blue Devils had their mercy rule.

Subs played the fourth quarter for Tift, which saw Richmond Hill outscore them 15-5.

Lamar led the Blue Devils with 14 points. Twelve different TCHS players scored overall. Andre Brown scored 8 for Richmond Hill.

LADY WILDCATS 54, TIFT 47

Without Bryant to steady the offense, the Lady Devils had to figure out ways to get the ball to their scorers. Jimmya Cushion and Jaziyah Johnson did most of the point guard duties in the first half, with Mariyah Batts helping off the bench.

The game was tight was start to finish. Tift went up by as many as six points in the second quarter. Richmond Hill did not lead by more than five until 12 seconds were left in the game.

Two Amira Jordan baskets provided an 8-6 lead for the Lady Devils through a quarter. Cushion opened the second with a triple and for a few minutes, it seemed that Tift’s makeshift floor combinations might could completely seize momentum.

Jalaya Miller, Jordan and Nadia Kennedy scored during a 6-1 run to go ahead 17-11 at 4:33. The latter two baskets were on fast breaks.

Richmond Hill tied the score at 21 on a Jada Brown basket. Mmekom Inyang scored with 12 seconds left for the visitors to have a 22-19 halftime lead.

Cushion assisted Miller on a trey 30 seconds into the third to make it 22-all. The two of them powered Tift in the third, responsible for all but two of their 19 points.

When Emeri Brown had back-to-back baskets for a 30-25 Richmond Hill lead at 4:25, it was Miller sinking a three, then two jump shots to cut the deficit to 34-33. Miller knocked down another three — assisted by Batts — for a 36-36 tie at 1:15.

Ke’nashah Mitchell wove a pass to Ashanti Dixon in the paint in the last 30 seconds and it was anybody’s game going into the fourth at a 38-38 score.

Three times in the fourth, Tift had a basket’s lead, courtesy Jordan, Mackenzie Holliday and Cushion. The last lead, at 44-42, was on Cushion’s scoop layup that avoided defenders.

Kimora Ragland then stepped up clutch for the Lady Wildcats, with two three-pointers in a 75-second span that turned the game in their favor at 48-44 with 2:48 remaining.

Batts made her only basket, a three with 2:22 left to come close at 48-47, but nothing else fell in. Jada Brown scored with 40 seconds left for a 52-47 lead and two made free throws off a flagrant foul finished Tift’s chances.

Miller scored 16 points for Tift, with Cushion and Jordan coming in at 8.

Imyang and Emari Brown each finished at 13 points for Richmond Hill.

Tift hosts Coffee in a non-region battle Tuesday before gearing up for two big Region 1-6A showdowns over the weekend: Colquitt County at home Friday and at Valdosta Saturday.