WR Demons hold off HoCo Bears’ late surge for 6th win of the season

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — After a tough loss to Eagle’s Landing last week, Warner Robins defeated Houston County for the second time this season, moving to 6-2 on the season. It was much more competitive than the first game, however, as Houston County lost that game by almost 20 points. The Bears managed to claw their way back into the game in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

In the first quarter, Warner Robins was spreading the ball around, and five Demons — Jay Johnson, Trey Bradley, Cam Perkins, Justin Hill and Gabe Jacobs — had at least one basket as the they jumped out to a 17-6 lead. Hill, who plays point guard for the Demons, got things going with a three-pointer to start the game, and Johnson had two blocks and a steal in the first quarter, leading to a 9-0 run to open the game. Zach Hanson hit a three for Houston County, but they were trailing 19-9 in the first.

Bradley, the sophomore guard, took over in the second quarter, and he dropped 13 points. Coby Salter, a junior guard for Houston County, also got hot, as he hit a three-pointer and several baskets to keep Houston County in the game.

Warner Robins was up 41-23 in the third quarter, but Houston County, thanks to the eight-point performance from Kammeron Plummer, managed to get back in the game, and they were only down by nine in the fourth quarter. But Warner Robins’ lead was insurmountable, as Hill dropped in another three for the cherry on top. Although Houston County played great defensively, leading in rebounds and steals, they could not overcome Warner Robins’ precision shooting, as the Demon’s had a 50% field goal percentage and shot 31% from behind the arc, to Houston County’s 11%, which was the difference in this game.

“We are a team trying to find our identity in the first half,” Coach David Bivins said, Houston County’s head basketball coach, after the game. “The second half we kind of cleaned it up a little bit. Good to see it now — you know, as we get down the road. We start region play tomorrow against Veterans, so hopefully they learned from what we did today so we can get better tomorrow.”

As Coach Bivins stated, Houston County looks to keep getting better, and this young team has a lot of potential. Warner Robins is a very good team, and they will finally have their entire roster back this week, as the members who also played on the football team will be back now that the season is over. Unfortunately, the football team didn’t bring home the state title, so now it’s up to the girl’s and boy’s basketball teams to bring home the gold.

Warner Robins will play region rival Dutchtown Tuesday, and Houston County lost to Veterans, who is 5-1 this season. The Bears will have to play a tough Valdosta team this Saturday. We’ll see if they can continue developing as the season progresses.

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