Greyhounds win with comeback against Grovetown
Christmas may be celebrated by many on Dec. 25, but it came a bit earlier for the Greyhounds on Dec. 21.
Coming back from being down by as many as 14 points in the second half, the Greyhounds topped defending AAAAAA state champion Grovetown 64-61 last Wednesday to capture the boys championship in the Morris Bank Holiday Tournament.
“What a way to go into Christmas break,” Greyhounds head coach Buck Harris said. “With a win like that, it’s an early Christmas present to me and the guys after being able to come back
Scan this QR code for video of the Greyhounds’ final defensive stand.
down 14 to a team like that because that team will be playing for a state championship.”
The win ran the season record to 12-2 for Jones County, which hosts Dutchtown on Jan. 6 as it will get back into the meat of the region schedule.
Wednesday’s victory followed a 68-47 win the night before against a scrappy Devyne Stephens team, led by Jaylen Sanford’s 27 points and 13 from Daethan Harris.
That all set the stage for an electric atmosphere against Grovetown as JCHS showed that it wouldn’t be rattled by having a defending champion in the building. A presence both by driving the lane and also getting leverage from the perimeter. Kaden Douglas, Sanford and Harris combined to drain nine 3-pointers with four coming from Sanford in a first half that ended with a 30-26 Greyhounds lead.
“When you play teams that are big like that, you know you’ll have to rebound well. We guarded them exceptionally well in the first half,” Harris said.
At some point, the Warriors would make a charge that the Greyhounds would have to withstand, and that happened in the third quarter with Jones County trailing by as many as 14, giving Grovetown visions of pulling away more in a half that also saw Douglas and Judd Anderson foul out.
“In the second half, I knew they’d attack us on the inside, and they did,” Harris said. “We had some guys come in and give us extra minutes. Considering that Judd and Kaden fouled out, we had some other guys step up out there.”
The Greyhounds turned back that effort, slowly chopping back into the game, trailing 50-41. Jones County physically challenged the Warriors on both ends of the floor Wednesday, and that played into the Greyhounds favor with Grovetown picking up more team fouls and into the double bonus, where more chances at the freethrow lines materialized. With the precipice of the game resting at the charity stripe, Harris rose to the occasion going 8-of-12 in the final quarter. He helped JCHS to draw even and to the lead before the Warriors had one final chance – an offensive trip down the floor in the closing seconds.
But the Greyhounds got a defensive stop to put the icing on the cake. Sanford had 24 points with Harris having 17.
“Once we got to the bonus, I told them that we needed to be aggressive and get to the basket and make free throws when we needed to,” Harris said. “We did the right stuff to help us win the game.”
