County teams fill GHSA tournament 5A, 4A brackets

From Staff Reports

The Perry High boys and the Veterans High girls finished as

the No. 3 seeded basketball teams for the GHSA AAAA state tournament after

Friday’s action at Westside High in Macon.

Perry, in the state tournament for the first time since 2008,

lost Thursday’s semifinal to Rutland High 77-74. The Panthers had a 15-8 lead

after one quarter and a 39-23 advantage at halftime. The Hurricanes from

Rutland stormed ahead in the second half with 54 points to Perry’s 35.

Jaylon Tyson, a guard who did not play when the Panthers

defeated Rutland at home in the final week of the regular season, scored 26

points. Half of his production was at the free-throw line, where he was

13-for-21.

Perry’s K.J. Smith registered 27 points, making all seven of

his foul shots while going 9-for-15 from the floor. Larry Felder added 10

points with five assists and Derrick Toliver scored eight. The Panther team was

4-for-13 from 3-point land.

The game Friday for third place was between the Panthers and

Baldwin High. Down 17-14 at the half, Perry came back to win 40-37.

This is the first ever state basketball appearance for the

Veterans High Lady Warhawks. They could not, however, carry the momentum of

that qualifying victory into Thursday’s semifinal with Howard High, who took

the win 37-28.

Collectively, Veterans only shot 23 percent from the field.

Kerregan Poe-Cochran made half of her team’s baskets, five, for 10 points.

It was only a one-point game for Howard at the half, 17-16,

but the Lady Huskies pulled away with 16 in the fourth period.

Khayla Owens, after a strong rebounding performance in the

win against West Laurens, pulled down nine rebounds in this game to go with

seven points.

Veterans secured the No. 3 seed Friday 45-41 over Baldwin

after jumping out to a 20-3 lead. It got tense in the fourth when Baldwin

scored 18.

Poe-Cochran had 18 by herself to go with eight rebounds and

four assists. Three others had double figures, though for Jalyn Slaughter that

was in boards with 12. In scoring, Aspen Coggins notched 11 and Owens 10.

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