By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

The LaGrange Grangers had a seven-day break in between games, and it showed Tuesday night against Northside.

The Grangers stayed unbeaten with a 78-34 thrashing of the Patriots, securing Region 2-AAA’s top seed while moving to 21-0 on the season.

LaGrange scored the game’s first 17 points and held a 39-13 lead at halftime. The 44-point win was the Grangers’ largest margin of victory so far this season.

For head coach Mike Pauley, it was all because of the team’s “freshness.”

“We had a week off and were able to rest our legs,” Pauley said. “We looked fresh. You could tell we had legs tonight.”

LaGrange set the tone early, taking a 21-2 lead after the first quarter. Senior Dionte Mains was the ringleader in the early surge, knocking down two 3-pointers to put the Grangers ahead 10-0.

The veteran players did the early damage, and with three minutes left in the first half Pauley called for the backups.

“I thought our older guys’ defense was smothering, and we’re really excited they played that way defensively,” Pauley said. “They played well offensively because they were unselfish.”

Mains led the Grangers with 21 points, followed by Martez Johnson with 12 points and Jamius Gunsby with nine. Royal Thomas and Antione Green also notched seven points each.

Northside (2-8 Region 2-AAA) was coming off a win over second-place Kendrick on Friday, and played well in a close loss to Spencer on Saturday.

Pauley wasn’t expecting the Grangers to win in such dominating fashion.

“We were surprised we beat them this soundly,” Pauley said. “We tried to do a few new things. We changed up our press, and that helped us.”

LaGrange was able to cross off one of its main goals for the season. The win secured the Grangers of a No. 1 seed in the region tournament later this month that will be played at LaGrange High.

With the first goal achieved, Pauley said the team is looking for more.

“It takes goal No. 1 off. Goal No. 1 was to be the host,” Pauley said. “Now, we have goal No. 2, which is to stay undefeated and to win our first region tournament game (Jan. 18).”