By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

Winning at Northside-Columbus has never been an easy task for the LaGrange Grangers, so head coach Mark Veal was pleased to see his team hang in there and come away with a win on Friday night.

LaGrange (3-0), which opened the season with a 68-54 home win over Northside, earned a 49-44 road victory on Friday to improve to 3-0.

“All the years we’ve had to go down there, it’s always been hard to win there,” Veal said. “We’ve taken really good teams down there and not won, so it’s always good to win in their gym.”

In the first meeting between the two teams, LaGrange pulled away in the second half to win by 14 points.

In the rematch, Northside kept things close, but it was LaGrange ultimately securing the win.

Javon Brown led LaGrange with 17 points, and Nafis Carston added 11 points.

The Grangers had a different leading scorer in all three games, and a bunch of different players have contributed.

“We’ve been fairly balanced, and that’s what you want,” Veal said.

LaGrange’s girls’ team, meanwhile, avenged a season-opening loss to Northside by winning 45-39 on Friday.

LaGrange followed that up with a 35-34 loss to Fayette County on Saturday.

OF NOTE: LaGrange’s boys’ and girls’ teams hosted Pike County on Monday, and they’ll be at home again on Tuesday against Hampton. For a recap of those games, see Wednesday’s sports section.