GMC splits with Glascock in home finale

Gil Pound, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·4 min read

Feb. 8—The GMC Prep basketball teams took to their home floor for the final time this season Tuesday.

Glascock County visited Cordell Gym to close out the region portion of the schedule.

Opening Tuesday night's action, the GMC girls (5-5 region, 6-17 overall) very nearly avenged a 25-point loss from earlier this season. The Lady Dogs took the Lady Panthers of Gibson (9-1, 10-8) to two overtimes, equalling five full quarters of play, but Glascock won the second extra period 10-0 to earn the 47-37 victory.

With Division 2 Region 5-A play now concluded, the GMC Prep girls sit third behind Johnson and Glascock and ahead of Twiggs (4-6) to account for the top four seeds. Wilkinson County (3-7) and Hancock Central (0-10) round out the region heading into next week's tournament. That means the Lady Dogs will match up with Hancock in the first round of the tournament with a trip to state on the line. That's a good place to be in for the GMC girls as they have defeated Hancock twice this season already, 43-30 and 45-17.

Next up Tuesday was the boys contest. The Bulldogs (5-5, 10-13) were looking to cement third place in the region, and did with a 61-33 win against the Panthers (0-10, 1-15). GMC second-year head coach Bo Kilby was able to sub heavily throughout and give his bench guys good minutes. There were a few things he wanted to see from his players.

"I wrote on the board before the game that I wanted to see us execute, not just execute plays, but execute the small things," Kilby said. "I wanted to see us be in the right position on defense. I wanted to see us executing our rotations correctly, blitzing screens, and executing plays when it came to offense. I think we did that."

Senior guard Jay Lango led the way with 23 points on five 3s. He had 10 points in the first quarter alone. Sophomore Cam Duke's 13 points were spread throughout the ballgame.

"I think Cam Duke has been big," said Kilby. "He does a lot of stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but he's brought big time energy for us. I was also proud of Jay tonight. He stepped up and led pretty well for us with Davis out."

Cam's older brother Davis Duke has been out since taking a hard fall on the court Jan. 31 against Johnson County. He's expected to be back in time for next week's region tournament.

While Lango and Cam Duke carried the scoring torch Tuesday, some other guys also had points next to their names in the official score book. Sophomore guard Brock Griffin totaled four points and freshman Benjamin Vaughn had a nice floater from the left baseline late to give him two. Meanwhile, the GMC student section was clamoring for another freshman to take the floor late. "We want Yohan!" went the chant from the kids, asking that Noah Yohan be put on the floor. Kilby delivered in the game's final minutes.

"He's a freshman who comes to practice every day with energy not a lot of people have," the head coach said. "He's not afraid to step in there and get in someone's head to push them either out of their comfort zone or to be better. He likes to talk, so the student section reacts to guys like that because of the energy that they bring."

Officially, Yohan went 0-for-1 from the floor. After that shot, he was fouled as the final horn sounded. With the game already decided, the referees declared the game over rather than send him to the line. But to the line he went anyway following the postgame handshake. Surrounded by GMC fans, players, and coaches, Yohan knocked down his second of two free-throw attempts.

"We had to give the fans what they paid to see," Kilby said with a laugh.

As the third seed in the region tournament, the GMC boys will see last-place Glascock again next week with a state playoff berth up for grabs. The full region tournament schedule will be released after coaches meet.

"I'm still confident in our ability to be our best," Kilby added. "The guys are doing a great job of buying in and getting better each day at practice. We're all hoping and praying Davis makes a recovery because he's a big part of this team. We'll need his energy and effort come playoff time."