As the start of the Georgia High School Association basketball state championship tournament nears, region tournaments are winding down and on Thursday, the McEachern Indians took on the Hillgrove Hawks for the boys Class 6A Region 3 title in the third meeting of the season between the two rivals , with the Indians sweeping the regular season series.
"We've broken our season down into four quarters. The regular season was the first quarter, this was the second quarter. We had to finish the second quarter, we had to finish this out," McEachern head coach, Tremayne Anchrum said following the Indians picking up a 78-63 win over the Hawks, in a game they trailed just once, late in the first quarter.
"We had to complete this quarter to get to the third quarter and that's what they were focused on," Anchrum said of his players and their mindset heading into Thursday' region title showdown which began with the Indians taking 10-4 lead in the opening period of play, only to see the Hawks go on an 8-2 run to take their first and only lead of the game as they wend up 14-12.
However, after closing out the first quarter on a 5-2 run, McEachern would regain the lead, going up 17-16, staying in front of the Hawks the remainder of the game, getting a 12-point second quarter performance from senior, Mason McMillan, who finished with a game high 34 points, taking a 46-28 lead into the locker room at halftime and would go on to pick up the win.
"I was proud of them. Mason McMillan came out hot, Chase Lumpkin took the game over, Emmanuel Alofe was a little down because he got in foul trouble because he got in foul trouble early, but the effort that these guys had, I was amazed," Anchrum said of his players. The Indians will open up the state championship tournament against No. 4 seed, Marietta next week.