Crawford County survives test against Lamar County
ROBERTA -- Had it not been for a dominant second quarter, the Crawford County boys basketball team would have faced a scare Friday night.
Although Lamar County trailed by double digits for the entire second half, it refused to back down. The Trojans forced Crawford County into a cold shooting stretch in the fourth quarter, one the Eagles had to fight through to pull out a 77-63 victory.
Crawford County, last year's GHSA Class AA runner-up, went 2-for-11 in the early stages of the fourth quarter as Lamar County went on a 9-3 run. But the Eagles locked things down in the final minutes, with Marcal Knowlton scoring eight of his 24 points in the final 2:06 as Crawford County improved to 14-1, 6-0 in Region 4-AA play.
Monkieze Moore led Crawford County with 25 points. Obtavious Hampton scored 26 points, including 14 in the final quarter, for Lamar County (7-8, 3-3). Hampton also had 10 rebounds.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Moore: He scored 10 points in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer and three straight free throws when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt, as Crawford County outscored Lamar County 27-13 to take a 46-29 lead into the halftime break.
Knowlton: He kept Lamar County from getting back into a tight game with his late baskets. He also had eight rebounds.
Hampton: He hit a pair of early 3-pointers after being mistakenly left out of the starting lineup. He had a massive dunk late in the third quarter to get Lamar County's fans involved in the game, then he scored nine of the Trojans' first 11 points in the fourth quarter.
TURNING POINT
Consecutive 3-pointers by Damion Safford, Moore and William Jarrell keyed a 20-2 Crawford County run in the second quarter.
OBSERVATIONS
Spreading the offense: Jarrell, last season's Telegraph All-Middle Georgia Player of the Year, was held to two points after halftime, finishing with 12. But Moore and Knowlton picked up the slack, combining for 49 points.
Cold shooting, but not exactly sloppy: Despite having to fight through cold stretches, Crawford County kept fairly good control of the basketball. The Eagles finished with just seven turnovers, compared to 20 for Lamar County. The Trojans, however, wound up with a 36-29 rebounding edge.
WORTH MENTIONING
Keeping a tight rotation: The only players to score for Crawford County were the Eagles' starters.
ALSO FRIDAY NIGHT
Lamar County breezed to an 82-15 win over winless Crawford County. Dai Dai Almond paced the Trojans (8-6, 3-2) with 26 points.
THEY SAID IT
Crawford County head coach Clyde Zachery: "The win was great. Tough. The guys fought it out. They kept it together, and we won."
Moore on having to grind through cold spells: "We did everything we could. We're a team that will never give up. We'll fight to the end, until the buzzer goes off."
Lamar County head coach Prelvis Paster on the Trojans playing hard for 32 minutes: "The thing about us is, we're just still trying to find that consistency as a team. I told the guys coming in here, I felt like if we came out here and played a solid basketball game, both offensively and defensively, I'd like my chances. For the most part, we did that, but they built that lead, and we couldn't get it down to two or three possessions."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Lamar County hosts Mary Persons on Saturday, while Crawford County travels to Northside, also on Saturday.
This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Crawford County survives test against Lamar County ."