High school basketball region tourneys: Southeast survives Cedartown, Christian Heritage falls in region title game

Feb. 14—Cedartown High School came into Tuesday's Region 7-4A tournament game against Southeast Whitfield without a win.

The sixth-seeded Bulldogs (0-23) gave No. 3 seed Southeast (12-13) all the Raiders could handle, but Southeast made enough late plays and fended off Cedartown on their home court 51-50 to clinch a playoff spot for the second straight season and move into the region semifinals.

"Everybody knows that Cedartown is way better than their record," Southeast coach Ben Oliver said. "They showed up tonight and hit shots and we were able to survive."

The scrappy Cedartown team wouldn't let Southeast get much separation all night.

After the Raiders headed into the fourth quarter with a 38-37 lead, Southeast's Samuel Harper hit the biggest shot of the night.

He rattled in a 3-pointer that gave Southeast a 48-43 lead with 2:07 to play.

Cedartown trimmed the score to 48-47 with under a minute when Harper came up huge again.

Cedartown grabbed a steal and headed out for a fastbreak that could have stolen the lead. Harper, instead, stepped in front of a charging Bulldog and drew a charge with 33.8 seconds left.

Matthew Brock added two free throws with Cedartown forced to foul, and Brayden Miles hit one with a few seconds left to make it a four-point margin. The Bulldogs hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the final score 51-50.

Southeast advances to the Region 7-4A semifinals against second-seeded Sonoraville. That game is Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Georgia Highlands College in Rome.

Any points that Southeast senior forward Cal Rich scores in that game or any for the rest of the season will increase his new school record.

Rich became the all-time leading scorer in Southeast Whitfield boys basketball history Tuesday. He came in with 1,695 career points, which had him tied with former Southeast standout Ty Pendley for most in school history.

Cedartown came in with a clear emphasis on stopping Rich, who dropped 40 points on the Bulldogs in their last meeting a year ago. Rich battled double- and triple-teams for most of the night, but he broke the record in the third quarter with a turnaround jumper in the lane, the first two of his six points on the night.

"I was just trying to play my game and win the game," Rich said. "They were playing great defense on me, and my teammates really stepped it up and scored the ball when I wasn't doing my best."

With Cedartown focused on denying Rich, his Raider teammates pushed them to the lead.

Cedartown led 14-12 after the first quarter, but the Raiders pushed out to a 24-17 advantage before taking a 28-23 lead into halftime.

Also in local basketball region tournament action on Tuesday:

Boys

Greenforest Christian 74, Christian Heritage 58

Christian Heritage (22-2) has just two losses on the year, but they can't get past Greenforest Christian (17-7).

The Lions fell 74-58 in the finals of the Region 7-A Division 2 tournament on Tuesday night in Decatur.

The Lions lost 74-66 in the last game of the regular season to Greenforest, and Tuesday's loss means Christian Heritage is the second seed in the region for the upcoming Class A Division 2 playoffs.

Jax Abernathy led the way with 25 points for Christian Heritage. Cash Hare had 13 points and Isaac Plavich scored 12.

Northwest Whitfield 61, Heritage 46

In all but one quarter, Northwest Whitfield (15-10) was dominant in downing Heritage (9-15) 61-46 in the first round of the Region 7-4A tournament at Southeast Whitfield on Tuesday.

The Bruins struggled to six points in the second quarter, but that quarter was the exception as the Bruins ruled the others.

After coughing up a big first-quarter lead, Northwest regained form in the second half to dispatch Heritage, clinch a playoff spot and move on to the semifinals of the region tournament

Northwest advances to play top-seeded Central-Carrollton Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at Georgia Highlands College in Rome.

Northwest led 18-7 after the first quarter, but couldn't buy a bucket in the second as Heritage roared back to cut the Bruins' lead to 23-21 at halftime.

Boosted by a 12-0 run, Northwest matched their first half scoring total in the third quarter alone, though, and led 46-36 at the end of it.

In the fourth, a trio of 3-pointers from Gabe Perez helped Northwest put the game to bed.

Perez led the Bruins with 16 points, with 11 of those coming in the fourth.

Caden Ramsey scored 15, while Dakota Blackwell and Jackson Harris each scored 10.

Murray County 62, Fannin County 49

Murray County (11-12) downed Fannin County (3-23) 62-49 Tuesday night in the Region 7-2A tournament at North Murray High.

The Indians secure a playoff berth and face second-seeded Model in the semifinals Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Ringgold 64, Coahulla Creek 52

Coahulla Creek (8-17) had its season end Tuesday with a 64-52 loss to Ringgold (11-14) in the Region 6-3A tournament.

The teams were tied at 20 at halftime, but the Colts couldn't keep up in the second half.

Ringgold plays top-seeded Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe at LFO in the semifinals on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.

Coahulla Creek falls one game short of reaching the state playoffs. The Colts won four straight games, including an opening round victory over Bremen Monday, before being eliminated.

Girls

North Murray 38, Haralson County 34

North Murray (15-9) secured a state playoff spot by downing Haralson County (9-17) 38-34 in overtime Tuesday in the Region 7-2A tournament.

Regulation ended with the teams tied at 31.

North Murray advances to set up a showdown with rival Murray County in the semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m.