By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The Morgan County High School (MCHS) boys varsity basketball team suffered their first region loss of the season last Saturday against the Elbert County Blue Devils. With fans biting their nails all the way up to the buzzer, Morgan County fell short by only four points in the end, losing 64-68. The loss brings the boys varsity’s region record to 10-1 this season.

When Morgan County met up with Elbert County earlier this year, Morgan County faced off against the only opponent, who, at that point, had been able to keep a close game with them, but Morgan County prevailed, winning the game 71-68 with a three-pointer by Tookie Brown at the buzzer.

Saturday, Morgan County knew that it would have to fight to defend the 10-0 region record they had compiled, and they came out shooting.

Unfortunately, so did Elbert County.
Morgan County fell behind 11-19 by the end of the first quarter. Although they were getting opportunities to get to the basket, the Dogs missed several shots in the first quarter alone.

The Dogs trailed throughout, and the tension, which had built to a fervor by the last quarter, was visibly affecting the play on the court. The nerves of both teams began to fray as Morgan County began to close the gap, and players on both sides of the ball began to make ball-handling mistakes.

With little time remaining, Morgan County tied the game at 62-62 – marking the first even score since the beginning of the game – but Elbert County made a three-point shot to pull ahead 65-62.

Morgan County, still trailing 62-65 called a time out with 12 seconds left in the game and possession of the ball. Tookie Brown drew a foul and made both shots, but Elbert County, in the final seconds, earned four foul shots of their own and made three of them – just enough to take the game out of the Dogs’ reach.

Brown’s performance against the victorious Blue Devils was outstanding, producing 28 points overall, including a perfect eight-for-eight record at the free throw line.

Earlier in the week, the varsity boys were able to put up victories against North Oconee and East Jackson The scores of those matchups were 82-32 and 83-46, respectively.

The girls varsity earned a win only against East Jackson, 61-39. However, the Lady Dogs lost to North Oconee 27-54 and to Elbert County 30-58. After this week’s games, the girls region record for the season is now 6-5.
Tuesday, Morgan County played Jackson County for the last home games of the season.

Next week, the MCHS basketball program will play its last regular-season games of the year, both against region opponents. The teams will travel to play Oconee County next Tuesday, Feb. 5, with the girls game beginning at 6 p.m. The last games of the year for Morgan County will take place next Friday, Feb. 8, in Franklin County beginning at 7 p.m.

Printed in the January 31, 2013 edition