DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The East Forsyth and Lumpkin County boys rallied to upset wins in the opening round of the Region 7-3A tournament at the Ford Phillips Center on Tuesday.
Lumpkin County knocked off No. 6 seed West Hall, 53-48, while No. 8 seed East Forsyth rallied past No. 5 seed, Dawson County, for the 64-54 win. East Forsyth will play Cherokee Bluff on Thursday at Gilmer High at 6 p.m. for a trip to the state playoffs and region semifinals. Lumpkin County gets No. 3 seed, Gilmer, at 7:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the sixth-seeded Cherokee Bluff girls opened the tournament with a convincing win over No. 7 seed Gilmer, 50-36, to advance to the second round, and No. 5 seed Dawson County rolled past No. 8 seed, West Hall, 62-13.
Dawson County will play No. 4 seed, North Hall, on Thursday at 6 p.m., and Cherokee Bluff will play No. 3 seed, East Forsyth, at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be played at East Forsyth High School.
CHEROKEE BLUFF GIRLS 50
GILMER 36
Timber Gaither continued her hot streak leading the Lady Bears (11-15) with 27 points, while Taliah Gaither scored a double-double performance with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
LUMPKIN COUNTY BOYS 53,
WEST HALL 48
Lumpkin County (8-17) rallied from nine points down in the third quarter to cut into West Hall's lead, 45-42, by the end of the third quarter. The Indians outpaced West Hall 11-3 down the stretch to get the win.
Cal Faulkner led the Indians with a game-high 24 points. Jones Harris chipped in 12 points.
Owen Jenkins was the high-scorer for the Spartans (8-18) with 15 points, Andrew Malin had 13 and Stephen Clark finished with 10.
DAWSON COUNTY GIRLS 62,
WEST HALL 13
The Lady Tigers (16-9) had three in double-figures as they blew past West Hall (0-25) in the opening round of the tournament on Tuesday.
Kirklyn Porter, Ella Siuta and Jaci Wilson scored 10 points each to lead Dawson County.
The Lady Tigers opened the game on a 27-8 run and never looked back.
EAST FORSYTH BOYS 64,
DAWSON COUNTY 54
Matthew Rouse scored 18 points and Davey Hyams had 16 to lead the Broncos (9-17) come-from-behind win over Dawson County (6-20) on Monday in the first round of the region tournament.
After East Forsyth grabbed a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, the Tigers mounted a 10-0 run to take a 22-16 lead in the second quarter. But the Broncos, down eight points, fired back in the second half with a 19-10 spurt to take the lead for good.
Bryce Bracco added 11 points for the Broncos.
Trey Harvey scored 23 points, a game-high, to pace the Tigers, while Caden Reed had 13 and Lane Perry 12.
