TCHS Basketball Into Playoffs
The Toombs County High School boys basketball team is through to the State Playoffs after taking third place in the Region 2AA Tournament held at Vidalia High School last week. The Lady Bulldogs won their play-in game, but then fell to Vidalia to end their season. They did get an All-State type of performance from KayKay Mobley, but they came up short to the Lady Indians.
Girls vs. E. Laurens
On Monday of last week the Lady Bulldogs took on East Laurens' Lady Falcons in the Region Play-in game.
East Laurens led the game 12-11 at the end of the first period, but in a low scoring second TCHS bounced back to hold a 20-19 lead at the half.
In the third quarter the Lady Bulldogs went on a run as they pushed their lead to 44-33. Toombs pulled away late in the fourth on the way to a 62-48 win over East Laurens.
Girls vs. Vidalia
Mobley's 32 points was not enough to overcome the Lady Indians in an elimination game in the Region Tournament.
With 3:22 left in the first, the Indians were on top 11-6. Ziahya Griffin hit a basket for TCHS to make it 14-8, and Mobley added one as Toombs trailed 14-10. At the end of the first that was the score with VHS leading TCHS 14-10. Mobley hit a threepointer early in the second to make it 16-13 with 7:12 left in the half. Mobley kept TCHS in close as she hit another shot, and Tay Howard got one to go in the lane as the Bulldogs trailed 18-17 with 6:20 on the clock. VHS went on a run as they pulled ahead to a 26-18 lead with just a few minutes to go in the first half. And at the end of the first half, the Indians were on top 36-18.
With 4:04 left in the third, TCHS was down 40-21 after a three from Mobley. Mobley went on a run to make it 43-28. Mobley hit two more to make it 45-33, but she also had a shot at the buzzer waived off that would have made it 45-36.
Griffin added a three early in the fourth, as did Malayia Preston to make it 51-42 with five minutes left. Another shot went for Preston as TCHS closed it to 53-44. But the Indians began to pull away late and took the win 64-48.
The loss ended the season for the Lady Bulldogs. They finish with a record of 11-13.
Boys vs. Bacon
The Bulldogs also had to play a play-in game for the Region Tournament, and in that game they faced off with Bacon County. Toombs held a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second the teams kept pace and at halftime the Bulldogs were on top 29-22. It was tight again in the third, but Toombs maintained their lead, and were on top 44-37 heading to the fourth. In that fourth period the Bulldogs pulled away as they outscored Bacon 22-10. That gave them a 66-47 win. TCHS was led by DJ McKinney with 14 points, Maleke Day and Demetrius Cutler each scored 12, and Dominic Eason added 8 in the win.
Boys vs. Swainsboro
The Bulldogs took on the Tigers of Swainsboro next in the Region Tournament, and came away with the upset in the final seconds of the game. Toombs came firing out of the gate as they pulled away in the first quarter to a 19-6 lead over the Tigers. Swainsboro did close that lead down in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs were still on top 31-23 at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, though, the TCHS offense went cold as they were outscored 17-9 by Swainsboro. That sent the game the final period with the score tied at 40-40.
Toombs got it done in the fourth as they came away with a 59-56 win over the Tigers for the upset. The win also secured the Bulldogs a spot in the State Playoffs.
TCHS was led by Day with 16 points, McKinney added 12, and Brantley Upshaw scored 11 in the win.
Boys vs. Woodville
That sent the boys into the next round to take on the Wolverines of Woodville-Tompkins. The Bulldogs gave it everything they had, but came up just short to a very good team. TCHS is hitting their stride at the right time of the year.
Early baskets by Day, Eason, and a slam by Upshaw put TCHS up 7-0 early. Woodville closed it to 7-4. It was 10-9 with 2:10 left in the first, but TCHS went on a run and Jamie Wardlaw drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to give TCHS a 16-9 lead.
In the second, though, Woodville came back to make the halftime score 28-25 with the Bulldogs up by just three. In the third the game went back and forth, but the Wolverines tied it at 48-48 going to the fourth quarter.
In that final period the defenses took over as a total of just 20 points were scored by both teams. Unfortunately, it was the Wolverines that hit a shot in the final seconds of the game to take the win, 59-57 over a much improved Toombs County team.
TCHS was led by McKinney with 13 points, Eason added 12, Cutler scored 9, and Day posted 8 in the loss.
Boys vs. Jeff Davis
It was a big come from behind win for the Bulldogs in the Consolation Game against Jeff Davis.
JD had the lead early in the this game and were on top 13-6 at the end of the first quarter. They extended that lead in the second to take a 33-21 lead to halftime. But the Bulldogs came out in the third period and finally found their rhythm on offense as they outscored the Yellow Jackets 21-10. With that Toombs was down by just one, 43-42, heading to the fourth. In that final period Toombs took the win as they battled all the way to the buzzer. TCHS won the game 55-52 over JD to earn the #3 seed from Region 2AA heading into the State Playoffs. TCHS will be on the road for the first round of the State Playoffs on Wednesday this week, and they have the daunting task of taking on the #3 ranked team in the state, Butler High out of Augusta. Tip off will be at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. If TCHS wins that game, they will move on to play on Friday or Saturday of this week in the second round.
