Brantley County received a ticket to the “Big Dance” Sunday when the Georgia High School Association released its 32-team bracket for the Class A Division I boys’ tournament.
The Herons (14-10), who have lost six of their last seven games, are seeded 23rd in the field. They open at 10th-seed Fannin County (18-9) today (Wednesday, February 19).
Brantley County was one of five teams from Region 1 to garner an at-large bid behind 10th-ranked tournament champion Worth County’s (16-10) automatic bid. The Rams are seeded fourth and will host 29th-seed Washington County (1017).
Fitzgerald (19-6) is seeded ninth and will entertain 24th-seed Swainsboro (913). Thomasville (16-11), the 19th-seed, travels to eighth-ranked East Laurens (17-7), seeded 14th.
Jeff Davis (11-14), the No. 30 seed, visits fifth-ranked Model (19-5), the third seed. Bacon County (10-13), seeded 32nd, travels to top seed Southwest Macon (23-2), ranked second in the latest Top 10 poll.
Brantley County dropped a fourth consecutive game falling 58-54 to Jeff Davis in the quarterfinals. The Yellow Jackets had lost five consecutive games.
The win gave Jeff Davis the threegame season series. BCHS won the January 11 meeting at home 61-44. The Yellow Jackets prevailed 56-48 January 28 in Hazlehurst.
Quarterfinals Jeff Davis ..................................58 Herons......................................54 FITZGERLD — Jeff Davis overcame a six-point deficit entering the final period outscoring the Herons by 10 points to advance.
“We’ve really struggled in the fourth quarter on the offensive end of the court late in the season,” said head coach Tripp Herrin. “We did some really good things on defense and at times, we played well on offense.”
Brantley County found an offensive rhythm early building a 21-14 advantage by the end of the first eight minutes. The Yellow Jackets got back in the game doubling up BCHS 12-6 in the second quarter to trail 27-26 at intermission.
The Herons found their scoring touch during the third period outscoring Jeff Davis 21-16 to build a 48-42 lead. The Yellow Jackets seized the momentum in the final stanza outscoring Brantley County 16-6.
Patrick O’Quinn recorded a double scoring a team-high 15 points, grabbing a team-leading 10 rebounds, and hading out a team-best eight assists. Jayden Simmons followed with 11 points.
Tucker O’Quinn returned from injury to score seven points and grab six rebounds. Carson Jacobs and Kent Thomas bagged six points each. Holton Deepratter and Courtlon Fuller contributed five points and four points respectively.
