Model turns Phoenix away late in game
but were not able to make a dent in Westbrook Christian’s lead.
They followed that up with a defeat on Day Three on Friday to the Asbury Rams to finish 1-2 in the event, but after a weekend that saw a New Year begin, the Warriors returned home and got 2024 off on the right foot with a good effort against the Raiders out of Region 7-4A.
The Warriors had three players reach double figures with junior forward Amir Harrison leading the way with 22 points. Junior guard Lucas Breier threw in 14 to aid the win and junior forward DJ Fleetwood added 13 more.
Trailing by a point after one period of play, Harrison scored nine in the second period as the Warriors began to take control of the game with a 20-point period that gave them a 28-23 lead at the half when they held the visitors to 14.
The Raiders made just three baskets in the third period, but on the strength of seven foul shots still trailed just 42-36 entering the last eight minutes.
But Harrison closed with six points in the fourth period and Breier, on 3-of-3 from the foul line, added five more to finish off the Raiders, who had 12 points in the quarter.
The win lifted Gordon Central to 9-5 overall on the season.
The Warriors are still playing for a favorable spot in the upcoming 7-2A Region tournament, but need to turn things around after a 1-3 start in league play in December.
Rockmart ended the year 3-0 in the Region and were still undefeated as of this writing with a 12-0 record overall and the Warriors will be playing them again Tuesday, Jan. 16 when they start the second part of the 7-2A schedule.
And after the Yellow Jackets, three Region teams have just one league loss, basically putting them in a tie although Model has one more win than the other two.
Model is 3-1 overall and Fannin County and North Murray are each 2-1, putting them tied for third place going into Friday night’s game. Murray County is 1-2 and then the Warriors are 1-3 and a game ahead of Haralson County, which is still hunting for its first Region victory at 0-4.
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After a few games have gone the other way down the stretch over the last few weeks, the Model Blue Devils saw their fortunes turn around in crunch time on Wednesday as the home team made the crucial plays to outlast Sonoraville for a much-needed 66-59 win to snap a four-game skid.
The Devils (7-7) recovered from a slow first quarter in which Sonoraville was able to build a 19-14 lead to put together a big second quarter in which they outscored the visiting Phoenix 22-8 to swing the momentum back in their favor and take a 36-27 lead into the half.
After going up by as many as 12 early in the third, Model saw Sonoraville (105) put together a run of its own to battle right back into the game and cut the deficit to one at 45-44 midway through the period. But the Devils responded with a strong close to the quarter to push the advantage back to 55-46.
The Phoenix once again refused to go away as they continued to make big shots to set up a thrilling final few minutes with each team coming through with timely baskets and steals. After Sonoraville cut the deficit to 61-59, however, Model was able to close out the victory with a bucket from Bryson Denson followed by three free throws from Chase Allen in the final minute.
“(Sonoraville) is a really good team and well-coached. We have a ton of respect for their team and their coaching staff so to beat a team like that and just get a tough win after the last few weeks we’ve had was something we really needed,” said Model head coach Jacob Travis. “That’s the first time we’ve had everyone play together relatively healthy since the Christmas Tournament. It’s definitely been a long few weeks, but tonight we responded well. We got down and responded with energy. We changed our defenses up some during the game and were able to keep a good shooting team like Sonoraville out of rhythm some tonight.
“I’m just proud of the kids for finding a way to get this win. We needed it.”
Model had five total scorers in the game with all five making it into double figures. The Devils were led by Stevie Dallas with 15 points while Noah Travis added 14, including four 3-pointers.
Denson contributed 12 points with six coming in the final few minutes to answer big Sonoraville buckets down the stretch, and Allen and Jeremias Heard each scored 11.
“That’s really been who we are the last few years. We’ve had several different guys that can score double figures,” said Jacob Travis. “We had that balance tonight with five guys all score in double figures. It’s tough for defenses to figure out how to guard you when you have balance like that.”
Sonoraville’s top scorer was Jaxon Pate who had a game-high 18 points, all coming on his six made 3s. Donovan McDaniel added 17 points with 12 coming in the second half, and Jordyn Storey was the third Phoenix player in double figures with 10 points.
Model is next on the road on Friday to visit Temple for a non-region contest at 7:30 p.m.
Sonoraville returned home Friday to take on Southeast Whitfield at 8:30 p.m. in its Region 7-AAAA opener. (Details of that game were not available at press time).