Jonesboro’s boys basketball team completed a regular-season sweep of ninth-ranked Woodward Academy and seized control of first place in Region 3-6A with a 75-73 overtime victory Thursday night in College Park.
The Cardinals improved to 11-8 overall and 8-0 in the eight-team region with their second victory over Woodward Academy in 10 days and now hold a two-game lead (and the tiebreaker advantage) over the War Eagles (14-5, 6-2) in the race for the No. 1 seed in next month’s region tournament. Jonesboro has six games remaining, only one of which – Friday night’s contest against Mundy’s Mill (9-6, 5-2) – comes against a team with a winning record in region play.
Cortez Redding led the Cardinals with 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Montez Redding scored 19 points and had seven rebounds, and Tyson Miller added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Woodward Academy trailed by five points at halftime and 50-40 after three quarters but outscored Jonesboro by 10 in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Zac Foster had 17 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal for the War Eagles. Brandon Peters scored 17 points, and Deke Cooper had 15.
Jonesboro was the region’s regular-season and tournament champion last year and advanced to the state quarterfinals, where it was eliminated by eventual state champion Alexander 54-53. Woodward Academy finished second in the regular season and third in the region tournament before being eliminated by Riverwood 59-58 in the first round of the state tournament.
Here’s a look at some of the other top games involving Class 6A teams this weekend:
Boys
*Shiloh at Gainesville (Friday): Gainesville started the season 0-9 and is ranked No. 38 in Class 6A by MaxPreps, but the Red Elephants have gotten hot, winning four of their first five region games to put them in second place, one game behind No. 3 Shiloh, in Region 8. The Generals (14-3, 5-0) have won five straight games since losses to Tucker and Chapel Hill in a December tournament.
*Woodstock at Etowah (Friday): These are the top two teams in the Region 6 standings. Fifth-ranked Etowah (13-4, 6-0) is in first place, a half-game ahead of Woodstock (6-1, 13-7). The difference is Etowah’s 54-48 victory over the Wolverines on Dec. 8. Etowah can all but clinch first place with another win, but Woodstock will pull ahead of the Eagles in the standings if they can avenge the loss.
Girls
*Veterans at Thomas County Central (Friday): No. 8 Veterans (11-5, 3-1) and Thomas County Central (13-2, 1-1) have one loss each in Region 1, and the winner be positioned as the top challenger to No. 7 Tift County (14-3, 4-0) for the regular-season region title, although both have lost to the Blue Devils. Veterans will turn around on Saturday and face Class 5A No. 3 Warner Robins.
*Lakeside-Evans at Glynn Academy (Saturday): Tenth-ranked Lakeside (14-3, 3-1) and Glynn Academy (10-9, 5-1) are the only one-loss teams remaining in Region 2, and the winner will emerge as the first-place team, assuming both win Friday night. Glynn won 44-42 when the teams met on Jan. 6. Lakeside has already matched its win total from last season, when the Panthers finished 14-11.
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