Jackets come close against E. Paulding
The Jackets fell to the Raiders for a tough 69-58 loss in a game over Thanksgiving break.
Rockmart hosted East Paulding on Tuesday before Turkey Day in a nonregion match up at home, and now have a season record of 0-2 with the loss.
Senior Juke Boozer led the team by putting up a total of 17 points on the board, including by going three for nine at the free throw line.
Junior Sherman Davis added 14 points and went three for five with his free throws, while Freshman Dennis Sims added ten points, going four for five in free throws.
Senior Tyler Rowland contributed nine points to the score and went four for seven at the free throw line.
Junior Zaylan Gibson and Sophomore Jakari Clark both earned four points for the team.
Head Coach Vic Calhoun was impressed with the team’s effort, but feels they ultimately need more practice time.
“Most of these guys have had one practice,” he said “I thought they were super coachable today, but once we get to practicing more, the wins will follow. We need to get more reps in with shooting the ball and making free throws. We’re really just trying to perfect ourselves and get ready for Gordon Central and the rest of the region games.”
“Our game plan going in was to keep the ball in front of us and keep East Paulding’s Sean Rutledge from dominating,” Calhoun said. “For the most part we followed that plan well, we just got in a hole
early with small mistakes and had a hard time digging ourselves out.”
Calhoun noted that Boozer had a great game and Rowland did a great job handling the pressure on defense.
“Some freshmen I’m proud of are Lanear McCrary and Dennis Sims,” he added. “I’m really looking forward to the future with this program and feel we are headed in the right direction.”
The Jackets had some practices over the break before hosting Rome for a weekend game.
Rockmart will next host Gordon Central on Friday, Dec. 6 for their first 7-AA games of the season, with JV at 5:30 p.m. and Varsity at 8:30 p.m.
The Jackets will then travel to Bremen on Saturday, Dec. 7 for JV to play at 2:30 p.m. and Varsity to play at 5:30 p.m.