Veterans’ Tre Embry and Jaylen Wilson thrive among the trees in loss to Tift County

Veterans lost their game against Tift County 69-61 and there are some mixed observations to take away from a tough, physical matchup.

One of those is that the Warhawks will have to learn to better deal with length down low, something head coach Brandon Driggers addressed after the game citing a lack of rebounding, earning and making free throws and execution.

Another is that the guard position is in good hands if freshman Tre Embry and junior Jaylen Wilson continue to play like they did on Friday.

Embry scored a team-high 20 points and drained a trio of three-pointers including two in the second as the Warhawks took a slim halftime lead.

His small stature didn’t help so much driving to the basket, but his ability to make the defense respect his jumper aided the offense in a way many high school players can’t.

“I’ve been watching Tre since he was a seventh grader at Bonaire [Middle School], man,” Driggers said. “The kid’s a competitor. He takes the coaching. You coach him hard, he’s not gonna say nothing back to you. He’s going to look at you and he’s going to do what he needs to do.”

“If we had more guys with [as much] heart as him, I feel like we can go a long way. But the biggest thing is, I don’t care who it is, freshman, junior, senior, somebody’s got to lead.”

Wilson’s inside attack saw success against the giants when facing them headfirst didn’t. His 13 points were second on the team and many of them came slipping into the paint and getting layups high off of the glass.

His offense helped keep the Warhawks afloat when Jaivyon Dawson had to come off of the floor. As much as they compliment each other, Driggers likes the way his guards push each other to be better. For Wilson in particular, it’s pushing him to be more of a leader.

“I feel like Embry and even Jordan Brown, they push Jaylen to have to do better,” Driggers said. “Because he knows if he’s not doing well, you’re gonna come off the court…So I think Jaylen stepping into that role and filling that void of pushing everybody else, that’s what we’re trying to get him to be.”

All of this is part of Driggers’ process of finding a rotation to stick with when things get tough, and several players have made their cases early this season.

“The biggest thing we was trying to find at the beginning of the season [is] a rotation of guys that could really come together,” Driggers said. “So we’ve still been looking for that, but [Embry and Wilson], we got a freshman and a junior. You got a lot of time to build and a lot of time to work with them. I mean, future’s bright.”