The Saturday before last, after the Greyhounds ended up being a handful for highly-rated Putnam County to handle, Jones County head coach Willie Reese was quick to point out that the Hounds will be a tough squad to handle down the final stretch of the regular season.
That ended up being true last week as Jones County wrapped up the first half of the region schedule with a split of two games, knocking off ELCA 58-46 before falling 52-49 to Union Grove.
The Greyhounds, who kicked off the second half of the region schedule Tuesday against Eagles Landing, will play the rest of their region games at home. JCHS is 3-11 and 3-6 overall, but its best showing has by far been of late. The Greyhounds have won three of their past five region contests with those two losses coming by a combined seven points.
One of those wins came last Tuesday at ELCA that was sparked by a pivotal third quarter. Ahead 26-20 at halftime, the Greyhounds outscored the Chargers by 13 points in the third, laying the path to the win.
As this week began, the Greyhounds found themselves seventh in the standings and in prime position to move up. Jones County, on the heels on fifth-place Hampton, who is 5-4 in the region, plays three teams in their next four games rated below them in the region. That sets up a chance to improve seeding as the region tournament looms at the end of the season.
After hosting third-place Locust Grove Friday and Veterans in a non-region game on Saturday, JCHS hosts Ola, Stockbridge and Ola next week, teams that the Greyhounds are 2-1 against so far this season.
JCHS hosts Locust Grove Friday and Veterans on Saturday.
BRAD HARRISON/Staff
