You could sense

on Friday night that the Sandy Creek Patriot basketball team was ready

to be crowned region champions. As the time expired in their 89-66 win

over Creekside, the players were celebrating but still cautious. They

knew what the stakes would be in Saturday's region championship against

Westlake and they were ready to play.

On Friday night,

Sandy Creek started off slow and found themselves down 11-8 at the end

of the first quarter. The two teams exchanged scoring runs and turnovers

and neither team looked ready to pull away. Sandy Creek went into the

locker room at halftime with a slight 33-30 lead.

Things changed

in the second half. The Patriots made adjustments on defense, limiting

Creekside to only one shot each time they came down the court and the

Patriots built an insurmountable lead. It was 54-48 at the end of the

third quarter. Halfway through the fourth quarter the Patriots extended

the lead to 11 points. William Belton scored 26 points for Sandy Creek

and Corey Admas contributed 20 points in the win.

On Saturday,

Sandy Creek had the lead for most of the game. They led 20-14 at the end

of the first quarter and 35-31 at the half.

"The guys

played with a lot of intensity," said Coach Rick Francis. "They

were focused and they realized that everybody on the team needed to contribute."

Though the

Patriots stumbled a bit in the third quarter they still had the lead going

into the final eight minutes. The team hung on in the fourth quarter and

captured their first region championship ever with an 83-80 win.

Belton was

the leading scorer with 23 points, while Adams added 19, Richard lott

added 17, Aaron Honeycutt contributed 10 and Bill Crumpler scored eight

points.

Sandy Creek

now enters the state tournament this Friday with a game against Crisp

County at Crisp County High School in Cordele. Tipoff is scheduled for

5:30 p.m. To get to Crisp County High School, take I-75 South to Exit

101. The school is within a mile of the Board of Education building located

downtown.

The Fayette

County Tigers almost won a region championship of their own over the weekend.

The Tigers defeated Jonesboro 70-61 on Friday but lost to Lovejoy 70-63

on Saturday. Fayette County had a 32-30 edge at the half but couldn't

stay close after a 20- 6 Lovejoy run in the fourth quarter. Jarrett Brown

was the leading scorer for Fayette County with 19 points. Kevin Walker

and Josh Burr each contributed eight points.

The Tigers

enter the state tournament on Saturday with a 5:30 p.m. game against Lowndes

in Tifton. To get to Tift County High School take I-75 South to the I-475

South exit, Exit 177, to Valdosta. Travel on I-475 to the I-75/Ga. 401

exit and merge on to I-75 South. Take Exit 62, the US 82 exit, towards

US-319 to Sylvester and Moultrie. Take a right on to US-82 east. Tift

County High School is located at One Blue Devil Way.

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