Tyrie Jackson, Preston Horne help Tift County top Westover

ALBANY — Westover has experienced some growing pains early this season. But a victory over Tift County could have given the young Patriots some much-needed confidence.

However, the defending Class AAAAAA state champions made sure that there would be no victory for the Patriots, taking a 56-39 win Saturday night at Westover in a matchup of powerhouse basketball programs.

“We came out flat, but I thought we fought hard in the second half to get the deficit down to 12,” Westover coach Dallis Smith said. “We just made mental mistakes.”

The Blue Devils sent a strong message to start the game when Tyrie Jackson threw an ally oop pass to Preston Horne, who promptly dunked the ball for the game’s first points.

Westover didn’t go quickly after Horne’s dunk. It responded with five straight points from Andre Kennedy and Jordan Floyd. Jackson answered with a 3-pointer and the game was on. Tift County went up 9-5 with 1:45 to go, and the first quarter ended with the Blue Devils up 11-7.

However, the second quarter belonged to the Blue Devils as they went on a 13-4 run led by scoring from Jackson, Horne and Fred Lloyd. The first half ended with Tift County in front 31-13.

The Blue Devils quickly took control early in the third quarter as they went on a 6-0 run. The run ended when Floyd hit a jumper for Westover, cutting the deficit to 37-15. Floyd scored five more points to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 37-20.

With under a minute left in the third, Kennedy electrified the crowd by creating a steal and taking the ball to the other end for a dunk, cutting Tift County’s lead to 39-26.

However, Jackson hit his third 3-pointer of the night at the buzzer, ending the third quarter with Tift County on top 42-26.

The Patriots cut the lead down to 12 early in the fourth quarter, but Jackson struck again with his fourth 3-pointer of the evening. At that point, the Blue Devils extended their lead to 51-34 until Westover’s Detravious Green was fouled and hit two free throws with 2:26 to go.

Westover was not able to make much of a comeback and Tift County remained undefeated.

“Playing at Monroe on Friday and playing at Westover today, you’ve got to maintain some energy,” Tift coach Eric Holland said. “We had that. We were able to get into our bench a little bit and we were able to execute down the stretch.”

Jackson led the Devils (7-0) with 23 points, while Horne added 18. Kennedy and Floyd led Westover with 12 and 11 points respectively.

WESTOVER GIRLS 53, TIFT COUNTY 33: The Lady Patriots dominated Tift County behind Kristavia Milton’s 15 points, which led all scorers.

Both teams started slowly. Neither team scored until Kayla Howard hit a free throw. The Lady Patriots scored four more points on baskets from Tiana Campbell and Milton. Westover was up 10-0 with 1:48 to go in the first quarter.

Tift County didn’t crack the scoring column until Vanity Golson hit two free throws with a minute to play. The first quarter ended with Westover up 12-2.

The scoring began to pick up in the second quarter with Westover up 17-7. However, the Lady Patriots went on a 9-4 run to close out the half, leading 25-11 at halftime.

Westover jumped out to a 33-14 lead in the third quarter, thanks in part to six more points from Milton. By the end of the third quarter, the Lady Patriots were in total control, leading 41-18. Westover’s domination continued in the fourth as Bryshea Jackson scored six points as Westover put the game on cruise control.

Audrey McElhaney led the Lady Blue Devils (5-2) with 11 points in the losing effort.

With the win, Westover improves to 3-1 on the season.