RABBITTOWN, Ga. — Cross Creek rode a hot shooting night to an 82-71 win over East Hall in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs.
The Razorbacks (27-2) advanced to the quarterfinals where they will face No. 1-seeded Sandy Creek.
Cross Creek hit a season-high 10 3-pointers.
“We did some good things,” East Hall coach Joe Dix. “It’s been a difficult week. We showed some grit. They outplayed us. We knew we had to get on the glass and we did not rebound it really well.
Every film we had of them, they did not shoot well then they go out and made 10 threes. That did not help our situation.”
After trailing by 20 points with four minutes to play, the Vikings (23-6) kept fighting back and cut the Razorbacks’ lead to nine points at one point but Cross Creek hit seven free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Both teams entered the playoffs in similar situations. Both won their regular season region titles but lost their region tournament championship games. Those losses pushed the Vikings to the eighth seed and the Razorbacks to the ninth seed.
Both teams were coming off big first-round victories. Cross Creek won its state tournament opener 86-39 over Lafayette. East Hall beat North Hall 72-45.
“They are 27-2,” Dix said. “We did not lose to a bad basketball team. They’ve been winning all year. I felt like we had some chances early and did not take advantage of them. Once you get behind a team like that they just put us away.”
With second-chance points and scoring in transition, the Razorback used a 17-6 run in the first half to take a 28-16 lead. Behind the strong play of Bray Langston and Jamarcus Harrison, who combined for 23 first-half points, East Hall got back in the game, trimming the Cross Creek lead to five points.
It was a pattern that played out the whole game. The Vikings would make a run to get close but the Razorbacks responded with a run to answer.
East Hall was led by Harrison with 21 points and Langston with 20. Jordan Richerson scored 17 points, 15 coming in the second half.
Jaden Priester scored 21 points to lead Cross Creek. Ty’Jai Heard and Frashad Tisby scored 17 points each. Derrick Shine Jr. added 11 points.
East Hall junior Chasen Jones, who was injured in a car accident on Sunday, was able to attend Saturday night’s game and see his teammates.
“It was great to see him tonight,” Dix said. “For a lot of them, it was the first time they had seen him since the accident. It was good to have him here.”
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