By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Upson-Lee has numbers on the backs of the uniforms, and it has a target.

          Mary Persons is the next team to take aim, and the Bulldogs will have more firepower than the last time they took on the Knights.

          That was on Dec. 5, and the Bulldogs were shorthanded and on the short end of a 76-46 spanking by Upson-Lee.

          Mary Persons is expected to be at full strength – which it’ll need – when it visits Upson-Lee Friday night is a mammoth Region 2-AAAA battle.

          As is always the case for a big game at Upson-Lee, fans better be on campus in Thomaston before the JV games are over if they want to get in. Why?

          This one pits 19-0 Upson-Lee – winners of 51 straight and a huge home draw on most any Tuesday and Friday - against 17-1 Mary Persons. The teams haven’t had such similar and stellar records at the same time this late in the season.

          It pits two of the state’s top players, the Knights’ Tye Fagan and the Bulldogs’ Cam Holden. And it features two teams with much more than just two of the state’s top players.

          The two are more than familiar with each other, so much so that they went at it at the end of the second regular-season game in 2015, a 63-62 Upson-Lee win in Forsyth. The Bulldogs progression since that 12-15 regular season has been impressive, but everybody in the region is chasing Upson-Lee.

          Again.

          Mary Persons finished 18-10 last year, 7-4 in region play, and lost to Upson-Lee 71-53 and 80-59 in the regular season and 84-65 in the region tournament.

          Upson-Lee hasn’t lost at home in region-related play, according to info provided to Maxpreps, since Feb. 13, 2015, a 77-67 loss to Mary Persons, in the third-place game in the region tournament. Fagan and Holden were freshmen on their respectable teams back then, as was Mary Persons’ Tre Slaton.

          Oddly, the Knights were 5-7 at home in 2014-15.

          A year later, the Knights were rolling along, yet were stunned 73-56 at home by New Hampstead in the first round of the state tournament. So Upson-Lee is on a 16-game home winning streak, and has won 23 of its past 24 at The Castle.

          Fagan had 26 points and 11 rebounds and forward Travon Walker 15 and 10 in the Knights’ December win. Tre Edge led Mary Persons with 13 points and 7 rebounds as Holden was sidelined with a suspension.

          The Bulldogs were also without Slaton and Desmond Williams, starters for Mary Persons’ quarterfinal football team.

          That first meeting is Mary Persons’ lowest point total by 24 points. The Bulldogs have cracked 85 points seven times this season, to four times for the Knights.

          Fagan averages 26.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists while Walker adds 12 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. Zyrice Scott gets 12.3 points and 5.4 assists, and Cam Traylor 9.8 points.

          Holden is at 29.7 points a game and 11 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.7 steals. Edge chips in 16.7 points and 4.1 rebounds. Dee Morton is next at 10 points and Williams at 9.8.

          A big key for Mary Persons is inside against Walker, a highly recruited SEC-level football player whose athleticism belies his 250 pounds on a 6-6 frame. The Bulldogs don’t have that height or bulk to counter in the paint.

          A Mary Persons loss drops the Bulldogs into a Region 2-4A logjam with Spalding, Perry, and West Laurens, who had two and three region losses.

          Mary Persons hosts Jackson on Saturday in non-region play, while Upson-Lee welcomes Griffin in non-region action.

 

Top girls games

          The top matchup isn’t a region game, but Veterans (14-4) at Peach County (13-6). The Trojans are led by Southern Miss-bound Daishai Almond. The young Warhawks are balanced, getting 11.4 points each from sophomore Stacie Jones and senior Chandler Shepherd.

          Saturday’s top game is a region matchup.

Putnam County and Rabun County have two Region 8-AA losses, but they have only one more loss between them, Putnam County at 15-2/5-2 and Rabun County at 14-3/3-2. Both are chasing Banks County (16-3/6-0). Jashanti Simmons leads Putnam County with 19 points a game, senior standout Rykia Pennamon adding 16.9.

The marquee non-region game pits Baldwin (18-2) at Washington County (15-3). The Braves, under first-year head coach Kizzi Walker, are balanced with Crystal Corley at 12.4 points a game and Akirah Robinson at 11.5. The Golden Hawks are balanced, but keyed by senior Nijeria Jordan. The Braves won the first meeting 50-48 in early December.

          Other non-region notables include Northside (13-5) at Warner Robins (9-7) and East Laurens (13-5) at Dodge County (15-2).

 

Top boys games

          Perry (11-6/2-3) is at West Laurens (11-7/2-3) in a game where the winner avoids digging too deep a hole in what looks like a race for third in the region.

          There won’t be a shortage of quality players on the floor when Dublin (13-2/3-1) hosts Bleckley County (13-4/6-2) in 3-AA. The Royals’ Torenio Davis averages 15.8 points a game while Nykeem Farrow adds 9.8 points. Both were standout football players for Bleckley County. Dublin is led by all-state guard Kameron Pauldo, who passed the 2,000-point mark as a junior, and 6-7 Clarence Jackson and 6-5 Steven Linton inside and Torian Holder also in the backcourt.

          Saturday’s notable non-region games include Northeast (14-8) at Central (12-4), Dodge County (8-5) ad West Laurens (11-7) and a good neighborhood matchup of Baldwin (14-5) at Washington County.

 

 

FRIDAY

Doubleheaders

Girls first, boys second unless noted

5:30 p.m.

Warner Robins at Thomas County Central

6 p.m.

Lee County at Northside

Veterans at Peach County

Mary Persons at Upson-Lee

Perry at West Laurens

Spalding at Howard

Baldwin at Richmond Acad.

Rutland at Pike County

Jackson at Central

Westside at Kendrick

Putnam County at Rabun County

East Laurens at Ddodge County

Bleckley County at Dublin

Temple at Lamar County

Banks County at Monticello

Washington-Wilkes at GMC

Taylor County at Macon County

Twiggs County at FPD

Dooly County at Crawford County

Wilkinson County at Tattnall

Twiggs Acad. at Brentwood

Windsor at Piedmont

6:30 p.m.

Stratford at Mount de Sales

Gatewood at Augusta Prep

7 p.m.

Jones County at Stockbridge

Greene County at Hancock Central

SATURDAY

Doubleheaders

Girls first, boys second unless noted

1 p.m.

Northside at Warner Robins

1:30 p.m.

Piedmont at Briarwood

2 p.m.

FPD at Howard

Northeast at Central

Southwest at Bleckley County

Pacelli at Taylor County

Schley County at Mount de Sales

3 p.m.

George Walton at Stratford

Westwood at Windsor

3:30 p.m.

Tattnall at Paideia

4 p.m.

Jones County at Union Grove

Westside at Pike County

Putnam County at Elbert County

GMC at Lincoln County

Hancock Central at Washington-Wilkes

5 p.m.

Bainbridge at Veterans

6 p.m.

Dodge County at West Laurens

Baldwin at Washington County

Jackson at Mary Persons

Griffin at Upson-Lee

Dublin at East Laurens

Hawkinsville at Dooly County

Macon County at Greenville

7 p.m.

Wilkinson County at Twiggs County

TBA

Monticello at Oglethorpe County

Deerfield-Windsor at Westfield