CMS boys play for title

♦ The Cedartown Middle School Bulldogs have an exciting finish to the season.

While the end wasn’t how fans hoped it would be, the Cedartown Middle School boys’ basketball team produced an exciting finish to the season last week on its home court.

Hosting the West Georgia Athletic Association basketball tournament, Cedartown Middle School saw its boys’ team pull out a heart-pounding double overtime win over Bremen Middle before working to battle an undefeated Heard County squad in the championship game.

The Bulldogs would come up short however, falling 4767 to the Braves last Thursday night in front of a vibrant and supportive crowd in the middle school’s gymnasium. CMS finished the season with a 14-4 record.

Cedartown first played Bremen Middle on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and had to fight against the Blue Devils to get a 52-49 win in double overtime to earn a spot in the conference championship game.

Facing Heard County the next night, the Bulldogs got off to a rough start that they would not recover from as the Braves used some sharp shooting from beyond the arc to build an 8-0 lead in the first minute and go from there to get ahead 16-5 within the opening four minutes of the contest.

Cedartown fought back as much as it could, with Davion Smith hitting a pair of 3-pointers to get within nine of the Braves near the end of the first period, but the Bulldogs hit a dry spell in the first half of the second quarter that allowed them to fall behind 32-13.

Heard County (18-0) led 24-18 at halftime at 52-27 going into the fourth quarter, where both teams began substituting players for some of their younger kids.

Cedartown’s bench players outscored the Braves’ reserves 18-4 in the final

minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough to delete a 34-point deficit.

Smith led an even-keeled Bulldog team with 10 points, while Zane Pasley, Jakobe Dorsey, and Jayshawn Mitchell each finished with eight points. Smith, Pasley and Mitchell each had two 3’s in the game.

DJ Pace was next with four points, followed by Kylen Pope and Jett Abrams with three apiece. Chris Johnson had two, and Manny Holmes had one.

Jeremy Stewart Cedartown Middle’s Kylen Pope (right) tries to drive around a Heard County player during the West Georgia Athletic Association tournament championship game at CMS on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Jeremy Stewart Cedartown Middle’s Zane Pasley (4) goes up for a rebound against Heard County during last week’s WGAA tournament championship game at CMS.

Jeremy Stewart Cedartown Middle School boys’ basketball coach Chris Wigley watches his team play Heard County from the bench during the WGAA championship game last Thursday.

Cedartown Middle’s DJ Pace (left) looks for an opening around a Heard County player during last week’s WGAA championship game.