From staff reports

The LaGrange Grangers survived another tough test, and they moved a step closer to a perfect regular season in the process.

The Grangers edged Kendrick 53-49 Thursday night, moving them to 20-0 with five regular-season games remaining.

The Grangers also moved to 8-0 in Region 2-AAA, and they own a three-game lead in the region with four games remaining.

LaGrange head coach Mike Pauley figures his team needs one more win to wrap up the top seed for the region tournament.

“We’re real excited about having that chance,” Pauley said. “I hope it works out for us.”

The Grangers have had some close calls of late, but they keep on winning.

In the past eight days, they’ve beaten Carver by six points, Shaw by two points, and now Kendrick by four points.

The Grangers keep on winning, though, and earlier this week they moved to the top of the Class AAA rankings.

Against Kendrick, senior Jamius Gunsby led the way, scoring a game-high 22 points.

Martez Johnson added eight points.

“(Gunsby) just kind of carried the load for us,” Pauley said.

The game was close throughout.

LaGrange led 14-12 after the first period, and 30-27 at the half.

Kendrick scored the final four points of the third quarter to trim LaGrange’s lead to 46-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

In Tuesday’s girls’ game, the Lady Grangers had a tough time of it in an 86-39 loss to unbeaten Kendrick.

One of LaGrange’s top players was limited with an ankle injury, and some other players were “coming off a stomach bug” according to head coach Jan Jones.

“We just weren’t there tonight,” said Jones, whose team only lost by 12 to Kendrick earlier in the season.

Despite the loss, LaGrange (13-6 overall) remains in second place in Region 2-AAA with a 6-2 record.

LaGrange’s teams are off until Tuesday when they host Northside.