Hard Work Pays Off for Piedmont Boys
Several seasons of hard work and determination have paid off for Piedmont Academy boys basketball coach Chip Champion.
On Tuesday night, Champion’s Cougars defeated Monroe Academy 58-33 and in the process wrapped up the regular season Region 1-AA title. Piedmont will enter next week’s region tournament as the No. 1 seed and has automatically punched its ticket to the Class AA state tournament.
Tuesday’s win was the 10th in a row for the Cougars who are now 10-1 in region play. Piedmont has not lost since it was upset Jan. 6 by Edmund Burke.
A balanced scoring attack was once again the difference Tuesday night for Champion’s team. Zac Hauther scored a team-high 16 points followed by 11 points from Micah Tyler. Cris Jackson finished with nine while Josh Phillips scored eight and Lance Richardson had seven.
“We are looking for that type of balanced scoring,” Champion said.
Even with one region game remaining against Briarwood Friday, Piedmont will be the No. 1 seed as both Briarwood and Gatewood already have three region losses.
Champion said Wednesday his team will still play to win Friday’s final regular season region game against Briarwood. The Buccaneers actually have a chance to secure the No. 2 seed if they win.
Prior to Tuesday’s win against Monroe, Piedmont defeated Curtis Baptist 42-29 Saturday. Hauther finished with 13 points while Chris Hornibrook had 12.
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“It was a sloppy Saturday afternoon game after both teams had played the night before,” Champion said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but we’ll take it.”
The Cougars probably had a slight mental letdown Saturday after a 62-28 win against Edmund Burke the night before. Edmund Burke is the only team to defeat Piedmont in region play and was the last team to hand the Cougars a loss.
The game was close in the first half, but a 27-0 run by Champion’s team in the third quarter put the contest out of reach.
“We’d been looking forward to this game,” the coach said.
Richardson was the leading scorer with 15 points followed by Hauther with 13 and Hornibrook with 12.
While the season has already been a success for the Piedmont boys, Champion said there are still more goals to aim for.
“We are enjoying the ride, but we have a lot we can improve on and a lot more to accomplish,” the coach said.
An upcoming goal will be to win the region tournament, which begins next week at Brentwood in Sandersville, and enter state as a No. 1 seed.
The Piedmont Academy Lady Cougars have also played well of late and have moved up to the No. 5 seed in the region.
The Lady Cougars defeated Monroe Academy 53-23 Tuesday to avenge a December loss to the Lady Mustangs.
Kirstie Lewis had 13 points (three 3-pointers) and Kayla Landreau had eight points (two 3-pointers) to lead a balanced attack for Piedmont.
Mary Beth O’Brien finished with eight points and six rebounds while Carrie Tucker scored seven points and had nine steals. Emily Beckham added seven points and six boards while Bailey Myers scored six and had five rebounds. Crystal Freeman and Amanda Hauther both scored two points.
“We have really improved from the first time we played Monroe,” said Lady Cougar coach Kenny Roberts. “We were able to play everyone in the game. We are playing an up-tempo, pressing game right now. We are forcing turnovers and are not turning it over ourselves.”
The Piedmont girls also defeated Curtis Baptist 66-51 Saturday behind 18 points by Tucker, who also had 13 rebounds and four steals.
Myers added 14 points while O’Brien had 11 points and six rebounds. Beckham finished with six points but also had an impressive 14 rebounds.
Only a 43-37 setback to Edmund Burke last Friday spoiled the week for the Lady Cougars. Myers had a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds while Tucker finished with 13 points and six steals.
The Piedmont Academy teams will travel to Briarwood Friday and then host Westfield Saturday. Varsity games begin at 6 p.m. each night.