Contributed by Colin Hubbard (@__Chubs__)
Region 8-AAA just might be the best top-to-bottom region in all of AAA this season and the top four teams were put on display at Emmanuel College on Friday and Saturday to determine the region champion and the state tournament seedings.
The lionhearted Jackson County Panthers who eclipsed the 16-win mark and a spot in the state playoffs for the first time in 14 years faced off with the up and coming East Jackson Eagles in the second round of the tournament in what was a much-anticipated third meeting of the two rival schools.
The Panthers got the best of the Eagles in the teams’ first two meetings but all of that was thrown out the window when the two met at a neutral venue.
Coming off a 6-game win streak, the Eagles jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead to start the game after forward Jaylen Morgan knocked down a 3-pointer and hammered down a baseline dunk.
The Panthers knocked down back-to-back shots to cut the Eagles’ lead to three points but a Drue Drinnon pass to Travis Anderson resulted in a 3-point swish to give East Jackson a 10-4 advantage.
The Panthers then answered with three straight buckets to tie the game up at 10-10 and then took the lead 12-10 but Drinnon quickly tied the game up at 12-12 seconds later.
Then entered 5-9 sophomore guard Xavier Clark.
Clark who has been a minor contributor for the Eagles for much of the season entered into the game due to some foul trouble for East Jackson and made the most of the opportunity.
Clark quickly stole a pass from the Panthers and converted it into a contested layup to give the Eagles the lead back at 14-12. Seconds later, Anderson threw a pass to Clark who then launched up a 3-pointer and drained it as the crowd erupted in East Jackson’s favor.
East Jackson head coach David Boyd was extremely pleased with the spark that Clark gave the East Jackson squad.
“Tremendous, just tremendous,” Boyd said. “We were in foul trouble and he came in and played great he really did.”
However, the scrappy Panthers would not go away quietly and took an 18-17 lead with just over a minute left in the first. Drinnon and Anderson were none too pleased with the result and quickly took the game into their own hands and drained one 3-pointer apiece to give the Eagles a 23-18 lead heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter featured turnover after turnover for both teams which resulted in just 19 points being scored between the two schools. However, it was the Eagles who held a 32-25 lead with just three seconds before the half.
With the score likely to stand going into the break, Anderson had other ideas. Anderson buried a corner 3-pointer right in front of the Jackson County crowd as the buzzer sound which gave the Eagles a 10-point advantage at the break.
The third quarter was the best showing by the Eagles. As a team they shot 50 percent from the field on 6-of-12 shooting and knocked down six free throws as well. Drinnon connected on four buckets while Anderson added three, respectively.
The quarter also featured a dunk from Andrew Scott, a player in which the Panthers had announced was no longer apart of the East Jackson basketball team.
The Panthers held things close for much of the quarter, but the Eagles outscored them 18-14 which gave East Jackson a 14-point advantage with one quarter to play.
The fourth quarter belonged to senior Kamron Walters who knocked down three huge shots, two of which came on put backs. The senior had a chance to tie the game in overtime against the Panthers in their second meeting but failed to do so. He got his revenge on Friday night.
“Kameron has just been outstanding,” Boyd said. “He only started playing basketball in his sophomore year so he’s inexperienced but he’s just been great to have. He understands his role and came up big for us tonight.”
Boyd felt especially happy for Walters after what happened to him in Game 2 against the Panthers just a few short weeks back.
“I felt bad about what happened to him at the end of that game,” he said. “It’s hard to come in and be asked to make a big play when you haven’t played much in the game so I blamed myself for that but he came up really big tonight.”
The Eagles took all of the eat out of the Panthers late in the fourth quarter and cruised to a 71-49 win to secure no worse than a No. 2 seed in the state playoffs. The loss moved the Panthers into a game with the Jefferson Dragons to determine the No. 3 seed.
“I thought that the difference between the first two times we played them (Jackson Co.) and this time was the defense,” Boyd said. “They hurt us on the inside with their post players playing very well in the first two games but we did an excellent job of slowing Ellis and Giroux down tonight.”
East Jackson’s goal for the game was to get into transition as much as they could and that’s exactly what they did.
“We felt that our big four did a great job of spreading the floor and that helped us get into transition and run all night,” Boyd said. “We haven’t had all of our guys all season long until the very end so we’re happy. Anytime you can beat Jackson County is a plus.”
Drinnon finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting including 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. On what might have been a up and down shooting night for Drinnon, he couldn’t have been more happy with the outcome.
“That was the best team effort we have had all year,” Drinnon said. “Everyone played their role, played hard and helped us win the game”
Drinnon was especially happy for Walters.
“That was probably one of his best games all season,” he said. “His best game came against Oconee but that was definitely a close second.”
When asked how good it felt to shut up all of the doubters and knock off the rival Panthers in the biggest game of the season, Drinnon answered calmly and gracefully.
“It feels good, there’s nothing they can say.” he said. “We just beat them to go to the region finals. That it.”
Anderson, who has been Drinnon’s right-hand man all season long put together a solid game of his own. He finished with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting and had five rebounds and three steals to go along with it.
“Coach told us that we had to play like a team in order to win today and we did just that,” Anderson said. There is no I in team.”
Anderson was equally if not more happy to knock off Jackson County as well.
“It feels really good, especially with the amount of trash they talk and them saying a lot of negative stuff in their little newsletter and stuff like that. We beat them in the one that mattered.”
The win moved the Eagles into the region tournament finale for the first time in school history but waited for them was Morgan County who is the No. 1 ranked AAA team in the state of Georgia.
After a valiant effort, the Eagles were sent home with a 9-point loss, 60-51 against the Bulldogs and will take on Central-Carroll in the first round of the state playoffs as a No. 2 seed.
Jackson County took care of business against Jefferson, 57-54 and will take on Rockmart in the first round of the playoffs.