By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

The LaGrange High boys’ basketball team checked off another item from its to-do list Friday night.

The Grangers outlasted their biggest rival in Troup High 80-67, and remained unbeaten at 18-0.

It was a big win not only for county bragging rights, but also in Region 2-AAA play.

LaGrange (6-0 region play) withstood a Troup scoring flurry in the second and third quarters to dominate the final eight minutes.

The Grangers never trailed and looked to be in control early when senior Martez Johnson sunk a trio of 3-pointers to help put LaGrange ahead 21-6 in the first quarter.

Troup made a game of it, however, going on a 13-2 run in the second quarter to bring the score within three points.

Although the Grangers led by 10 at halftime, coach Mike Pauley knew Troup (6-9, 3-3) wouldn’t back down.

“I thought they really stressed us playing defense,” Pauley said. “They did some things to create the game to slow down for them, so we didn’t get to run it up and down on them.”

The Tigers couldn’t seem to stop Jamius Gunsby, however.

Gunsby, who scored a team-high 18 points, was able to penetrate the Troup defense easily and netted field goals from right beneath the basket.

While Gunsby got the scoring stats, Pauley knows it was a team effort in getting him the ball.

“They had a really hard time stopping Gunsby because our kids rallied around that and fed him the ball,” Pauley said. “That means our kids got it.”

Trailing by just seven points as the third quarter expired, Troup’s Eric Bridges made a leaping layup to bring the score to 55-51 with 7:30 remaining.

Bridges’ score seemed to propel the Grangers, however, as LaGrange went on a run highlighted by 3-pointers from Johnson and Dionte Mains to close the game.

“Every time (Troup) made a run, I thought we did a great job of answering,” Pauley said. “Down the stretch in the second half we challenged our kids to play unselfishly, and they did that.”

Mains finished with 17 points for the Grangers, followed by Johnson with 15 and Qua Hardy with eight.

Bridges led Troup with 19 points, followed by Kaanan Patterson with 14 and Jaquante Holloway with eight.

The LaGrange High fans were a definite factor in favor of the Grangers. Every time a Troup player went to the free-throw line, he was swarmed with loud jeers from the home crowd.

“It was an awesome crowd,” Pauley said. “They made a big difference, especially when (Troup) was shooting free throws. The kids enjoyed being here and it looked like they were having fun.”