All season long, Statesboro has looked for someone to score points in clutch spots. The Blue Devils got that Tuesday night as Zaquavian Smith scored 12 points to lead SHS to a 55-45 win over Glynn Academy in the Region 2-AAAA tournament. The Blue Devils advanced to play Ware County at 6:30 tonight.
    SHS must reach at least the semifinals of the region tournament to notch a trip to the state playoffs. The Blue Devils finished the regular season tied for second, which could have given them a bye through Tuesday’s opening round, but they lost a coin toss with Evans and dropped to the third seed.
    “Anytime you’ve got to win two games to advance instead of one, things get a lot tougher,” SHS coach Lee Hill said. “But that’s the situation we’re in. We just have to keep winning.”
    Smith played solid defense and led the Devils’ fast-paced transition game. He had three consecutive double-digit scoring efforts as a freshman in last season’s region tournament, and will need to turn in a similar effort if the Devils hope to get past the first round of the state playoffs for the first time since the 2008-09 season.