4AA Tournament Starts Next Week
The Monticello Hurricane varsity squads fell to Bleckley County at home Tuesday as the 4-AA Region Tournament approaches next week.
The last regular season competition will be tomorrow, Feb. 6 at rival Putnam County High School.
The varsity Canes, currently seeded #2, will need a win to retain that ranking which would also make Jasper County High School the host site for the first round of tournament action.
Bleckley County, a team the Canes beat by 35 points previously, defeated the Canes 42-41 Tuesday.
“We had a complete and total lack of focus against Bleckley,” said dismayed Head Coach B.J. Thomas.
Bleckley had a 0-20 record going into Tuesday’s game but earned their first win of the season against the Canes on the road, he noted.
The team will have to redeem themselves in Putnam, where a lot of basketball action is taking place this weekend. Hopefully the Middle School Canes will play for their conference championship title there on Saturday. (See related story.)
Leading scorers Tuesday were Quinton Standifer with 11 points and Jakari Middlebrooks with 10.
Prior to Tuesday, the Canes earned victory over Macon County 65-51. Ashton Bonner and Middlebrooks each had 19 points with Standifer adding another 13.
Middlebrooks also lead the board in rebounds with 11.
Currently an undefeated Crawford boys’ team will enter the tournament as the #1 seed in spite of any of the weekend results around the region.
The Lady Canes, currently seeded #4, lost to Bleckley but earned a 44-37 victory over Macon County last weekend.
Maya Stokes led the scoring with 14 points; Morgan Stokes followed with 11 points; Sheridan Tripp added 7; and Terisha Adams had 6.
The regular season wraps up tomorrow in Putnam amongst a packed auditorium with the girls beginning at 7 p.m. followed by the boys at 8:30 p.m.
Region games will conclude by Saturday with consolation games scheduled to be played on Monday, Feb. 9 at an undetermined location yet. First round of region action will commence on Tuesday, again at a yet undetermined location.
For definitive region location and times, contact JCHS at 706-468-5016 next week.