Canes Fall in Second Round of State

The Jasper County High School varsity Hurricanes ended their play in the Georgia High School Association’s state playoffs last Thursday with a four point loss to Jordan High School.

Falling 71-67 on the road in Columbus, ended the 2017-2018 season for the squad which was coached by first year varsity Hurricane Coach Chris Pennamon.

“We didn’t quit and we played hard,” said Coach Pennamon of their last game of the season. “It was a good season. It ended before we wanted it too, but there were a lot of people that probably thought we wouldn’t make it that far with a first year head coach coming in.”

The team hit some bumps last week playing without key rebounder Malik Crawford from the start and losing the second leading scorer, De’Ivion Lawrence, to an injury during the game.

“We were out rebounded in the contest and that truly hurt us. Also with Ashton Bonner and Jay Fleetwood in foul trouble down the stretch we were short on ball handlers that also hurt. However, the biggest thing that hurt us was the injury to De’Ivion at the end of the second quarter who rolled his ankle pretty bad. He continued to play on it in the second half but was not the same player from the first half.”

This was the fourth consecutive year that the boys squad had reached the state playoffs.

Last week also proved fateful for the remainder of the 8AA region teams as Elbert fell 67-63 to Therrell and Banks fell 72-60 to South Atlanta. Putnam lost in the first round to Rockmart.

“Next year will be the test with the loss of seven seniors,” noted Coach Pennamon. “We have our work cut out for us to get the younger players ready and up to speed. This off season is a must for any kid wanting to play varsity next year. We have to get better over the summer in order to make it back to the state playoffs and to go deeper in the playoffs than we did this year.”