Westover, Lee County win in U-Save-It Classic

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Staff Correspondent
Joe Whitfield

ALBANY – The Westover Patriots (9-4) and the Lee County Trojans (8-1) were winners in early games Wednesday at the U-Save-It Classic held at Monroe High School in Albany. The Patriots outscored Hillgrove 66-55 and Lee County ran past No. 8- ranked Baldwin 59-38.

Westover’s Kavon Johnson , Monroe’s Andrico Jackson and Lee County’s Christian Brown were honored as the members of the All-Tournament team and at the end of the tournament, Westover’s Anthony Milton was named the most outstanding player of the U-Save-It Classic.

The Westover game was close throughout with the Hillgrove Hawks of Powder Springs in Cobb County. The Hawks led 13-11 at the end of the first quarter and pushed out to a six-point lead late in the quarter before Westover’s Jeremiah Waters made a lay-up in traffic and was fouled, then hit the free throw to pull Westover within two, 28-26 at the half.

Waters put the Patriots ahead at the beginning of the third when he drilled a three-pointer then stole a pass on the next play and slammed in two more points to give Westover a 31-28 lead. But the Hawks battled back and took a two-point lead before Kavon Johnson sprinted the length of the court and past his defender to lay up two points and tie the game 39-39.

The fourth quarter was a see-saw battle with four lead changes and three ties until Westover grabbed a six-point lead after a three-pointer and two free throws from Anthony Milton. The lead was 59-53 when an official called a technical foul after the Hillgrove coach complained about a call. He then called another technical and kicked the coach out of the gym and put Milton on the free throw line for six technical foul free throws. Milton swished all six shots and put the game in the W column for the Patriots. It is Westover’s sixth win in a row.

Milton led the Patriots with 20 points, Johnson followed with 14 and Waters added 12.

The Lee County – Baldwin game started out where neither team could get the ball into the basket. Almost four minutes of the first quarter went by and no one scored until Lee County’s DJ Taylor swished a three from the corner to end the scoring drought. Moments later he hit the same shot again and the Trojans were up 6-0. While the Trojans found their groove, Baldwin could not and the Lee County led 17-1 at the end of the first quarter.

Baldwin bounced back in the second quarter and only trailed 28-23 at the half, but Lee County started strong in the third and scored the first ten points of the quarter, capped by a three-pointer from Christian Brown that had the Trojans ahead by 15 at 38-23. The Lee County defense held the Braves to just 15 second-half points and took home their fifth straight win.

Brown led the scoring 13 points, Ousmane Kromah scored 11, Taylor put in 10 – all in the first quarter, and Demetrius Davis added nine.

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