UPDATE: Four Macon teams reach region championship games

Four Macon teams — the Southwest and Rutland boys, along with the Westside and Northeast girls — reached their respective region championship games. Below are recaps from the Region 2/Class A-Division I tournament, followed by updates from other regions.

Region 2/A-Division I Boys semifinal: Southwest 60, Washington County 44

For a good while, Washington County was in decent shape.

The Golden Hawks, hosting the GHSA Region 2-A Division I girls and boys semifinals, were hanging with the defending state runner-ups halfway into the third quarter.

Then, the good signs showed for Southwest: defense and Chase Dupree at the free-throw line, making buckets that turned out to be a pair of nails in Washington County’s coffin.

The Patriots turned a two-point lead into an 11-point advantage in less than two minutes en route to a 60-44 win over the Golden Hawks in a semifinal.

Southwest gets upstart Dublin — which lost 100-49 to the Patriots en route to a winless region season — in Friday night’s region title game. Dublin stunned Dodge County 50-47 on Thursday. 

The two teams met in last year’s region title game, albeit under different circumstances. Dublin had defeated Southwest in the regular season with both teams rated highly in the classification. The Patriots won a triple-overtime thriller to claim the trophy in that matchup.

Southwest got back to the title game without a single region loss. The Patriots and Golden Hawks played only nine days earlier, on the same court, with Southwest pulling out a 58-51 win.

The hosts wouldn’t let the visitors pull away, despite a first-half deficit of 10 inside the final two minutes of the second quarter, the Golden Hawks rallying to get within 28-24 at halftime.

When Washington County took a 32-21 lead on a free throw from sophomore Kaden Collins with 5:01 left in the third and got back within two on his 3-pointer 90 seconds later, another full four-quarter game seemed imminent.

Southwest turned up the defense, and the Golden Hawks turned it over on three of the next four possessions, the Patriots scoring after each one.

Dupree’s layup and free throw ended the run and put Southwest up 46-35 with 1:24 left in the third.

A 3-pointer from Collins early in the fourth pulled the Golden Hawks within six only for CJ Howard to score low and add a free throw. The Patriots also converted a block into a crushing 3-pointer from Howard.

A two-possession game became a 52-39 Southwest lead with 6:55 left in the game, and the Golden Hawks’ hopes evaporated.

Dupree went off for 27 points in normal Dupree fashion. He managed only one 3-pointer, but hit a requisite number of buckets underneath and in transition to go with a 14-of-15 night at the free-throw line, adding a team-high 13 rebounds.

Howard added 22 points and a pair of steals for the Patriots, who held an opponent to less than 50 points for the ninth time.

Collins had 19 points and Aiden Watts 10 for the Golden Hawks, held to below 50 points for only the sixth time this season.

Girls semifinal: East Laurens 49, Central 39

The East Laurens bench had plenty of empty seats, courtesy of suspensions from the last meeting with Central, on Feb. 10 when a brawl broke out.

But the shorthanded Falcons didn’t play like they were shorthanded, not when it counted most.

Central overcame a nine-point third-quarter deficit and took the lead in the fourth, but East Laurens regrouped and finished strong down the stretch to advance to Friday’s final.

There were no skirmishes or technicals or the need to separate anybody this time, with the occasional helping up of an opponent.

East Laurens won that game, called with a second left, 41-38. The Falcons’ 12-game winning streak came to an end three days later, before punishments had been handed out.

Central had an emptier bench on Wednesday night, its first game since the incident, and thus, first game to serve the suspensions.
The Chargers (15-11) got past Dublin 38-33 on Wednesday while East Laurens (22-4) had a bye.

The Chargers entered the game  No. 23 in the GHSA’s power rankings, and falling to No. 11 won’t hurt that too much as far as making the state tournament.

Central was on the verge of going down by double figures for the first time when East Laurens held the Chargers scoreless for nearly four minutes to open the fourth quarter, taking a 27-18 lead.

JaMyree Simmons broke the slump with a 3-pointer at the 4:47 mark, and that got the Chargers headed in the right direction.

They slowly crept back into it and tied it on a Simmons 3 – with 1:30 left in the third – on which she was closer to the sideline on the left wing than the 3-point line.

A layup by Lawren Anderson against non-existent defense put Central up 35-33 less than a minute into the fourth.

Down 37-35, the Falcons got a second wind, starting with a home-gym-type roll on 11’s jumper that went off the back of the rim, straight up and as high as the shot clock and down through the rim.

That tied it with 5:17 left. The Chargers got a putback from Addison Alexander with 4:47 left for the lead again, but East Laurens closed it out with a 12-0 run in the final 4:35.

Simmons led Central with 12 points, all on 3-pointers.

Zahmaria Robinson topped the Falcons with 20 while Deanna Lowther added 18.

Girls semifinal: Northeast 43, Washington County 41

The host for the semifinals and finals had one thing to brag about: offensive rebounds.

Washington County got a slew of them, passing the double-digit mark late in the first quarter or early in the second.

The problem was that the Golden Hawks couldn’t make anything. Possession after possession offered them multiple opportunities, and they were unable to hit much of anything.

A blowout seemed destined, but the Golden Hawks (19-6) stormed back in the second half to shockingly take the lead only for Northeast (17-10) to hold on in a thriller.

Northeast didn’t necessarily light it up, but shot well enough to double up the Golden Hawks at halftime.

Little seemed to change.

Northeast’s Jada Smith drained a 3-pointer, and Washington County answered with a one-and-done air ball before the Raiders got another shot from long range, this time from Indiasia Bell, for a 26-12 lead less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Then Northeast — which lost the first meeting 60-38 in December — went cold and Washington County warmed up as the scripts flipped a bit. The Golden Hawks went from a pair of 14-point deficits to a stunning lead when Adrianna Poole stole a pass and banked it in with three seconds left in the third for a 31-30 lead.

The third and final tie of the fourth quarter — which came after Northeast’s five-point lead evaporated in about two minutes, followed by four straight missed free throws — was broken on a drive by Bell for a 42-40 lead with 72 seconds left.

Washington County missed a jumper after losing seconds following a Northeast foul that re-set the shot clock. The Raider then ran down the shot clock, but missed a layup with 15 seconds left.

Washington County got the ball when the rebound went off Northeast three seconds later.

Jade Kitchens drove into traffic and drew a foul with five seconds left, making one of two. Northeast’s Smith got the rebound, lost her balance and was ruled to be in a tie ball with 3.7 seconds left. Maliyah Little was quickly fouled and made one of two with 2.5 seconds left for the final two-point lead.

Washington County’s heave was off to the right.

Other region title games

In the Region 2-2A semifinal, two Macon teams won to advance to Friday’s championship games, though the squads took very different trajectories to get there.

The Westside girls won after getting a bye as the No. 1 seed in their region this season, only losing one region game all year. The Seminoles defeated Rutland 54-50 to advance to the final, overcoming a slower first half with a bombastic 21-point third quarter to pull away.

Westside will face No. 2 Morgan County, the only region team to deal the Seminoles a loss this year, in the final at 8 p.m. Friday.

The Rutland boys made the final as well despite earning the No. 3 seed and thus not getting a bye in the bracket, continuing a late-season surge that has the Hurricanes peaking at the right time.

Rutland came into the season’s stretch run at 3-14 overall but managed a respectable 6-4 region record that was boosted by a nice five-game winning streak in January that consisted of four region opponents.

The Hurricanes took down region rival Westside in a close one 49-45 in the first round Tuesday before thoroughly handling No. 2 Callaway 68-45 to advance the title game, where they will face highly-touted Morgan County.