The Gilmer Bobcats earned their first region basketball win in commanding fashion.
GHS hosted Ridgeland last Tuesday, and the Panthers were out of the game by the end of the first quarter. Gilmer’s 15-point halftime lead expanded over the final two quarters as the Bobcats ran away with a 61-35 victory.
The Cats tangled with East Forsyth Saturday, and the quick Broncos outpaced GHS after the first quarter. Gilmer’s struggles in the third allowed EFHS to pull away and secure an 84-54 win.
Gilmer took advantage of easy shots versus Ridgeland and finished with 44 points in the paint and 15 in transition. The Cats’ rebounding edge led to 17-second chance points, and they converted RHS turnovers into 14 more points.
“Their shooting percentage (26 percent) was way down, and they weren’t very effective offensively,” said head coach Jordan Hice. “We played all right. It was a little sloppy and there were way too many turnovers (16) for a game like that. Even when we did have turnovers, we’d end up getting the ball back so that helped us out.
“We scored fairly well and continued to score. We killed them on the rebounds (44-27). We’re a good transition team when teams are missing. Being able to get out quick and try to find an easy bucket is always what we’re looking for.”
Senior J.D. Taylor and junior Keegen Bryant led the Cats offensively with 21 and 14 points, respectively. Bryant also added eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.
The Panthers hung with the Cats through the first five minutes of the game, but they did not have much in their tank after that. GHS went on a 9-0 run to end the first for an 18-8 lead.
While Gilmer did not have a strong second quarter, RHS was limited to six points and the Bobcats held a 30-15 advantage at the half.
Gilmer continued to shoot over 50 percent from the field in the third quarter. Ridgeland’s failures on both ends of the court persisted, and the Cats led 50-23 with a quarter to play.
Hice used reserves for much of the fourth to preserve Gilmer’s 26-point win.
Boston Teague and Preston McVey both scored seven points and Blane Banks added five points and eight rebounds. Mack Kiser grabbed six boards and Taylor had five.
East Forsyth had a stellar shooting night at 55 percent. Gilmer’s best quarter came in the first with the game tied 20-20 after a quarter. However, EFHS added to its lead in each remaining quarter.
“They’re a big school, and they were tall and quick,” Hice said. “We scored 11 in the third quarter, which isn’t bad for us, but we gave up 27. They hit three of their eight threes that quarter. They also scored a lot of transition points (27). We were shooting and missing and they’d go down and score. They really never slowed down through three quarters.”
The Broncos did not press, and they stuck to man-to-man defense throughout the game. The Cats fell behind 44-33 at the half and trailed 73-44 with eight minutes to play.
“I’ve got my normal scorers, but we’re trying to find other people who can contribute to scoring,” Hice noted. “Once teams get used to Keegen and J.D. scoring, they’ll eventually shut them down. We have to have people step up and hit some shots. We were finding open shots, we just couldn’t hit anything.”
GHS was 39 percent from the field, which included a 4/16 effort on three-point shots.
Bryant scored 20 points, Taylor added 17 and McVey had 12 and six rebounds.
GHS is 4-4 overall and faced Lumpkin at press deadline. The Cats will take on Copper basin, Tenn. Friday and Fannin County Saturday. Games will be played at FCHS.