Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

With first place still in sight, the LaGrange Grangers took care of business Tuesday night.

Facing a Kendrick team they’d lost to earlier in the season, the Grangers finished the game on a 17-3 run to win 81-61 and stay within a game of Shaw in the Region 2-AAA standings.

Martez Johnson led the Grangers with 19 points, including 10 in the third period, while Antione Green stepped up and scored 13 points, with eight of his points coming in the opening quarter.

The Grangers (14-6 overall) improved to 6-2 in the region - one game behind Shaw, which visits Northside today.

In Tuesday’s girls’ game, Kendrick beat LaGrange 83-33.

“It’s big,” LaGrange boys’ coach Mike Pauley said of Tuesday’s win. “It keeps us rolling at home, and it keeps us in the hunt for No. 1. And that’s a team that beat us earlier.”

The game wasn’t without suspense.

The Grangers were up by 15 heading into the final period, but the Cherokees chipped away at the lead until they were down by just six with less than four minutes to go.

No worries.

Beginning with a rim-rattling dunk from Jamius Gunsby on a break-away, the Grangers were off and running.

Kendrick got within eight with 2:55 left, but the Grangers outscored the Cherokees 13-1 from there.

“They were on their run, and we had to call some timeouts, do some coaching things to change it up,” Pauley said. “We made some baskets to extend the lead.”

One of the starts of the night was Green, a junior guard whose torrid first quarter helped the Grangers take a 15-12 lead.

Green finished the game with four 3-pointers.

“At first I wasn’t feeling that good. I was kind of sick before the game,” Green said.

He said he felt “all right” when the game tipped, though, and whatever was ailing him certainly didn’t bother his shot.

“He had his chance, and he made the most of it,” Pauley said. “We rode him for awhile.”

It remained a tight game for most of the second quarter, but the Grangers ended the half on a flurry to take a nine-point lead at the break.

Up 30-26, the Grangers scored the next seven points before Kendrick got a basket to make it a 37-28 game.

In a 15-second span, Royal Thomas Dionte Mains scored on layups following Kendrick turnovers to push the lead to 11.

“We had some fresh legs in there, and we just exploded,” Pauley said.

The Grangers kept it going in the third period.

With Johnson catching fire, the Grangers led by as many as 18 points in the quarter, and they were ahead 60-45 going into the final period.

The Cherokees had a 13-4 run to get close, but the Grangers weren’t to be denied.

Despite the impressive performance, Green said the team can “get better.”

“We had too many turnovers,” he said.

In the girls’ game, Kendrick looked an awful like the team that ran the table and won the Class AAA state championship.

The Lady Cherokees usually had games in hand by the end of the first quarter last season, and that was the case Tuesday night against the LaGrange Lady Grangers.

Kendrick rolled to a 24-9 lead after the first quarter, and it was ahead 53-21 at the half.

The Lady Cherokees were up 79-29 through three periods before taking their foot off the accelerator.

Arneshia Williams paced LaGrange with 13 points, while Angel Penn and Terryuana Godwin scored eight and seven points, respectively.

Trieanca Colbert led Kendrick with 26 points.