Warriors’ upset bid falls short in second round

After two frustrating first-round state playoff exits the last two seasons, the LFO Warriors got to dole out a little frustration on the Franklin County Lions this past Wednesday night as they rolled into Carnesville and rolled out with a 69-55 win in the opening round of the Class AAA state tournament.

The Warriors jumped out to a 20-13 lead after the first quarter and extended their advantage to 36-21 at the break.

The Lions cut LFO’s lead down to 11 starting the fourth quarter, but Brent Bowman went a perfect 10 for 10 at the free throw line in the fourth to help keep the home team at bay.

He finished with 21 points, while Jamichael Davis scored 13 of his team-high 23 points in the first half. Amari Burnett had 12 points on the night, 10 coming in the first half. Jayden Dover connected on a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers to finish with eight, while Keenan Walker scored all five of his points in the fourth to help salt it away.

SUMTER COUNTY BOYS 52,

LFO 41

The ninth-ranked Warriors traveled to Americus on Saturday to face fourth-ranked Sumter County and saw their season come to a close with a 11-point loss.

LFO trailed 27-18 at halftime, came back to pull within one, 3635 after three quarters. However, they were outscored 16-6 over the final eight minutes, with several of those 16 points coming late on the free throw line.

The Warriors held a slim twopoint lead with four minutes to play, looking for the road upset. But the Panthers connected on a 3-pointer to retake the lead and, after LFO missed a shot on the other end, Sumter County hit another from behind the arc to go up by four and the Warriors were forced to started fouling.

Davis led LFO with 16 points, followed nine on three 3-pointers from Dover and eight from Walker, who scored all of his points in the third. Bowman collected six, while Burnett finished with two.

The Warriors ended their season with a 23-4 overall record.

“I was really proud of the guys,” LFO head coach Josh Laney said. “We suffered through some more injuries this year, which is obviously hard, especially at the end of the season, but they really came together down the stretch even after getting upset in the tournament.

“We were able to do some special things so, overall, it was a great year and we still have a young core, so it’s a good thing to build off of going forward.”