Peachtree Ridge boys win their first basketball playoff game in four years

SUWANEE, GEORGIA – Mountain View’s Mike White and Bronson Blair were instrumental in helping the Bears hand Peachtree Ridge its first loss of the season way back on Dec. 10 this season.

With a spot in the Class 7A Sweet 16 on the line Tuesday night, the two teams met again and this time, the Lions had an answer for the Bears duo.

After allowing 36 points to White and Blair in a double-overtime loss in early December, the Lions held the duo to just 19 points on Tuesday night and as a result, held the Bears to a season-low 45 points to win the game going away, 70-45.

Lions head coach Jordan Griffin, who earned his first playoff win as the team’s head coach, said they had a good game plan to try and limit White and Blair in Tuesday night’s rematch.

“The biggest difference was our engagement defensively,” Griffin said. “We really tried to focus on their two guys. They have two really good guys in White and Blair, so we tried to take them away. They did a good job of that.”

Griffin couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game for his Lions.

The Lions held the Bears to just four points in the first quarter while their offense was red-hot. They got baskets from five different Lions and Byron Martin scored six of his game-high 19 points to lead all scorers.

Blair was responsible for two of the Bears’ four points in the first quarter while White was held scoreless. Heading into the second quarter, the Lions held a commanding 20-4 lead.

“One of the tasks that I put on the board today was just getting back to being us defensively,” Griffin said. “I felt like we hadn’t played really well defensively the last couple of weeks, so I challenged them to just be better defensively. I thought we did that. We held them to four points in the first quarter and I thought we came out with a sense of urgency. We understood how good Mountain View was and we knew the challenge they posed. I thought our guys did a really good job of executing our game plan early in the first quarter.”

The Lions extended its lead to 28-9 midway through the second quarter before the Bears finally strung together some points. It still wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Lions, however. The deficit grew to 20 points heading into halftime, 37-17.

At the break, White was scoreless for the Bears while Blair had six of their 17 points. Martin more than doubled White and Blair’s output in the first half with 13 points to lead all scorers.

Any chance of a comeback was put to rest in the third quarter.

Their lead grew to 23 points after their first possession to start the third quarter following a Khush Chauhan three-pointer and their lead never dipped below 18 points.

Despite the third quarter being their lowest-scoring quarter of the game, the Lions still managed to increase its lead to 22 points heading into the fourth quarter.

White’s first points of the game didn’t come until 48 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Lions only got stronger in the fourth quarter. They took a 31-point lead with three minutes remaining before going on to win the game by 25 points.

Chauhan joined Martin in double-figures with 13 points. All-in-all, nine different players scored at least two points for the Lions in the win.

With the win, the Lions will now await the winner of Lambert-Walton, which will be played Wednesday night. Lambert enters the matchup as the favorite after winning the Region 6 championship.

After the win, Griffin said it felt great to see his team win the program’s first playoff game in four years.

“These guys deserve it,” Griffin said. “Nobody in my locker room has ever been to the state tournament, let alone win a game in the state tournament. For them to do that, it was big. But it’s also big for the program and big for the school. I’m excited to try and keep building here and building on the success of this season. I think we have a lot more to give.”

If the Lions do in fact play Lambert in the second round, it will mark the second straight playoff game against a team they played during the regular season. The Lions beat the Longhorns 76-73 way back on Dec. 2.

“I’m really good friends with Clay Wages, the head coach at Lambert,” Griffin said. “They’re region champs for a reason. We’re excited to still be playing and I know Lamber is going to play fast. If you want to see a game in the 70s or 80s, come out to that game and we’ll give you a good show.”