The opportunities abounded for the Greyhounds to fold and relent on Saturday night against Putnam County.
The War Eagles, regarded as among middle Georgia’s most talented teams, had beaten Jones County by 21 points two weeks prior. And with a double-digit lead in the first quarter, signs were creeping in that things could be trending toward that again. Further compounding this was the fact of Thomas Gosier running into early foul trouble, handing JCHS challenges establishing its inside presence.
But the Greyhounds, a team that has prided itself on its resilience, showed perhaps its biggest round of fight on Saturday night, and it paid off with a 67-64 win against the War Eagles as Justin Ray and Rudy Bowden each scored 25 points for the Greyhounds.
Putnam County is ranked among the top five teams in its classification, and the War Eagles were an Elite 8 team a season ago. But on Saturday, Jones County put forth a strong statement heading right back into the teeth of the region schedule, where JCHS hosts Union Grove on Friday.
“Putnam is the standard in their classification, and it’s a local team, somewhat of a rivalry game, and it was a great crowd,” Greyhounds head coach Dylan Dupree said. “For our guys to be in those moments and pull that out, it’s huge for us.”
Wins like Saturday’s stand to give Jones County a strong jolt of momentum as it nears the conclusion of the first half of the region schedule. JCHS began this week with two wins in a row after Friday’s 69-39 win against Josey.
“There was a point in our schedule where we said we needed to go on a run, and we went 5-2. We actually dropped a game to Hampton, and that was our worst game of the year,” Dupree said. “So it could have been even better. To go on that run, it was awesome.”
Jones County may have trailed early on Saturday, but didn’t panic. That included an adjustment on defense with Gosier in foul trouble.
“We had to play a little bit smaller and athletic. Some of our guards had to guard bigger and older. Our guys, they handed it very well,” Dupree said.
That helped result in slowing down Putnam County and chipping into a 25-14 deficit after a quarter, even leading 29-28 late in the second quarter on a dunk by Bowden before an 8-2 War Eagles run put them ahead 36-31 at halftime.
“Throughout our season, we have faced that adversity,” Dupree said. “I tell them at practice that we can score 10 to 12 points in our sleep, so we can’t look at the scoreboard and check out. We were able to battle back one possession at a time.”
Gosier may have been limited for a good part of the game due to foul trouble, but he got involved when needed the most down the stretch. His putback off a rebound with 3:44 to play trimmed the War Eagles lead to 56-54 just before Ray drained a three-pointer to tie it 57-57 with 2:55 left.
The back and forth only continued from there. Jones County, which led 59-56 following a Bowden layup off a missed free throw, had to fend away multiple chances by Putnam to draw even, making plays on both ends of the court and the free-throw line, where JCHS was 7-of-10 in the fourth quarter. Ahead 61-58 with 2:04 to play, Jones County’s lead was cut to a point with nine seconds left on a PCHS three pointer.
Enter Gosier, who calmly drained a pair of shots from the charity stripe after being fouled for a 65-62 Greyhounds lead.
“For Thomas to get in foul trouble and then, guess who hit two free throws at the end of the game? Someone that they targeted,” Dupree said.
The War Eagles nearly had a shot to tie the game after a shooting foul from three-point range but missed the second of three free throws. That, along with Bowden icing the game with two more free throws, allowed Jones County to celebrate a big win on its home court, arguably its biggest since three seasons ago.
“This is a culture win,” Dupree said. “We’re 7-6, and last year, we won seven games all year. Now, they know they can win.”
