FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.— The ninth-ranked Jefferson boys team earned second place in Region 8-3A with a 65-58 win over No. 1 Cherokee Bluff Friday night.
The Dragons rallied in the fourth quarter to get the road win.
“It’s a big game for us to win coming here,” Jefferson Coach Kevin Morris said. “We just wear on people. We do a really good job of keeping up the pressure and keeping up the intensity. That’s the strength of our team is our ability to play a lot of people without a lot of drop off.”
With the regular season behind them, the teams are focused on the postseason, starting with the region tournament next week.As the No. 2 team in the region, the Dragons (17-6, 8-2 Region 8-3A) are guaranteed a spot in the Class AAA state tournament.
No. 3 East Hall clinched the regular season region championship with a 72-64 win over the Dragons on Tuesday. The talented region features three teams in the top 10 of the GHSA’s Post Season Rankings.
“The crazy thing is there is a great chance we will play (Cherokee Bluff) four times,” Morris said. “The first time we played we did not have our football guys. The second time we played they did not have (Cooper) Glover. This time Boston (Kersh) is not healthy and we are missing Christian Hester who’s our best player. We are probably going to play four times and it will be a different group of people in all four games.”
Friday’s game was a tight battle throughout. Each time Cherokee Bluff (21-4, 7-3) took a lead, the Dragons scratched their way back. The Bears led by seven points in the first half and eight points late in the third quarter.
Jefferson tied the game at 43-43 early in the fourth quarter. Baskets by Jefferson’s Dashaun Keith, Darren Pinkard, and Clay Owens put the Dragons up 54-50 with 2:29 to play. They held off the Bears from there.
Josiah Morris and Owen scored 14 points to lead Jefferson. Pinkard added 11 and Keith 10.
The Bears were led by Cooper Glover with 21 points, 15 coming in the second half. Andy Quirarte scored 14 points, 11 in the first half to help Cherokee Bluff take the early lead.
JEFFERSON GIRLS 63
CHEROKEE BLUFF 54 OT
The Jefferson girls (19-4, 10-0) finished undefeated in the region with a tough overtime win over Cherokee Bluff (17-8, 6-4).
The Lady Dragons' first lead of the game came with their first point in overtime. They scored the first eight points in overtime to take control of the game. Delaney DeWitt’s putback in the final seconds sent the game to overtime.
Cherokee Bluff was missing three starters. Brooklyn Phillips, Bristol Kersh, and Emery Jones all sat out the game with injuries. That did not slow the Lady Bears, who led by as many as 10 points in the first half and took a 43-30 lead on Claire Carlson’s 3-pointer one minute into the fourth quarter.
Jefferson whittled the lead but Cherokee Bluff still led 50-48 after Carlson’s free throw with 13.8 seconds left before DeWitt tied the game.
Carlson led the Lady Bears with 26 points. Audrey Graham added nine points and Halle Wilson six points. Jefferson was led by Skyler Brady with 15 points. DeWitt scored 14 and Michel Robbins 11.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2025/2/1285312/jefferson-knock-off-no-1-bluff-for-2nd-in-8-3a