By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It was an easy day at the office for the unbeaten LaGrange Grangers.

Facing a struggling Heard County team that’s only won once this season, LaGrange eased to an 82-38 victory on Friday night to remain unbeaten.

LaGrange (12-0) will try to make it 13 wins in a row to start the season when it faces WD Mohammed on Monday in the final game of the LaGrange Toyota Classic.

After that, LaGrange will gear up for the start of its Region 5-AAAA schedule against Central-Carroll next Friday.

“We’re proud of the start, and then you scratch all that, because region play is what matters,” said Mark Veal, LaGrange’s head coach.

Facing an overmatched Heard County squad, Veal made sure to get everybody on the roster plenty of playing time.

“We were 14 deep tonight, and we had some guys start tonight that hadn’t started all year,” Veal said. “Everybody got varsity experience.”

Taylor Stephens, a sophomore guard, led the Grangers with 13 points, and he made one of the team’s 10 three-pointers.

D.J. Burks scored 11 points while making two 3-pointers, and he had eight points in the fourth quarter as the Grangers took a 21-6 lead

Nafis Carston was in double figures in scoring with 10 points, and freshman Exavious Reed had 10 points as well, including eight points in the fourth quarter.

Reed brought the home fans to their feet with a break-away dunk in the fourth quarter that gave the Grangers a 73-36 cushion.

Kiias Hodnett, one of three freshmen who played in the game, made two 3-pointers and scored eight points, and Javon Brown had seven points.

Avery Hill knocked down two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to score six points.

Kiian Hardnett, Kindae Maddox and Blake Miles made 3-pointers for the Grangers, and Malik Hall and Kobe Jones also got into the scoring column.

Garrett Jacobsen and Earley Sanders played but didn’t score.

“We hit a lot of threes,” Veal said. “That was one of the best shooting nights we had.”

LaGrange was up 21-6 after the first quarter, and the lead was 43-20 at the half.

The Grangers were ahead 57-31 after three quarters, and they continued to pull away in the fourth quarter.