TIFTON — Playing before a packed house for both games, the Abraham Baldwin Fillies and Stallions got Region XVII basketball wins over the Lady Warriors and Warriors of Middle Georgia College Wednesday night. The Fillies came from behind to get a 55-52 victory, while the Stallions held off a late Middle Georgia charge to get a 69-59 win.

The Stallions used a strong inside defense to throttle the Warriors early on, getting a total of 13 blocked shots. But Middle Georgia got hot from beyond the three-point stripe in the final three minutes to make the game closer at the end.

ABAC coach Todd Sheppard said the blocked shots are not unexpected from his team.

“We work really hard at it. Tonight, it made a big difference, because Middle Georgia knew they wouldn’t get any easy shots on the inside,” Sheppard said.

Besides the blocks, Sheppard also pointed out that, “Tremaine Facison’s strength is not blocking shots, but he works out hard at taking charges. He took two tonight and those were big for us.”

Middle Georgia’s main strength is three-point shooting, according to Sheppard. But, ABAC held the Warriors to 9-for-35 from beyond the three-point line.

“They are extremely dangerous. They can really shoot the three. But, we really responded to the challenge of guarding the three tonight,” Sheppard said.

That changed late in the game.

A Byron Conaway basket with 3:18 left in the game gave ABAC its’ biggest lead of the night, 60-36.

Middle Georgia then went on an 11-0 run that made the score much closer at the end. But the Warriors could only get as close as 10 points by the end of the game. Middle Georgia’s biggest weapon was the three as the Warriors made four of their nine three-pointers in the final three minutes.

“That was the only time we had a problem with the three, the final three minutes,” Sheppard said. “We lost focus a little bit.”

ABAC’s John Beugnot led the Stallions with 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Willie Mills scored 14 points and Ronald Camon scored 13, blocked two shots and pulled down eight rebounds.

Conaway also had 10 points with six blocked shots, while Warren Beulah scored seven and pulled down five rebounds.

The play of Mills and Charles Holloway — six points and four assists — also was lauded by their coach.

“Marquette Northington, our starting point guard, was sick tonight and Willie and Charles really picked it up for us,” Sheppard said.

ABAC (14-7, 3-2) also got help from the crowd as the school’s ag division “Rowdies” were our “most valuable players tonight. They gave us an electric atmosphere,” Sheppard said.

While the Stallions’ contest was pretty much decided early on, the “Rowdies” did have a lot to cheer for in the Fillies’ victory.

Down by as many 11 points in the second half, ABAC went 11:58 with only 10 points during the second half.

But late in the game the Fillies began to heat up on the offensive side of the ball.

Trailing 47-36 with 6:12 left in the game, ABAC’s Brynne Callaway made two free throws. That started a run that saw ABAC take a 51-50 lead on a three-pointer by Tamara Peterson with 52 seconds left in the game.

“That was a huge shot for us. The most awesome thing about it is every coach in this league says the best way to play her is to let her shoot. She shot the ball tonight and made them pay,” Fillies head coach Julie Conner said.

Bridney Kirtz then hit two key shots in the final 31 seconds to help seal the victory for the Fillies.

“Bridney came up big for us. The entire team did, this was a total team victory,” said Conner. “Kelly (McMullen) played big. Tamara stepped it up. In the first half, Getoya Cobb stepped it up when Tamara was in foul trouble. She really handled the ball well for us. Also, Fallon Robinson came in and gave us three minutes in the first half and gave us four rebounds. That was big.”

McMullen led ABAC (3-19, 3-3) with 18 points, while Kirtz added 10. Peterson had nine points and four steals.

ABAC will be in Americus Saturday for a doubleheader against South Georgia Tech.