Statesboro got another big game from Cam Harvey in a 64-39 win over Wayne County to open up region play with a win victory night.
    The first nine or so minutes of the game were actually competitive, seeing seven lead changes in that span going into the beginning of the second quarter.
    Down 5-2 early, Tefari Thomas hit a three to tie the game up at 5-5 which became a 7-5 lead for Wayne after a layup by Willie Reynolds.
    A 50 percent trip to the line by Trayveon Burns would cut the deficit in half, but Duke Hosley came back down the floor and hit a mid-range jumper to extend Wayne’s lead 9-6.
    “Early on they played the way they played by pushing up and down,” said head coach Lee Hill. “I thought we pressed a little too hard tonight early on but eventually we settled in.”
    However as he always has this season, Harvey hit a corner three off a drive-kick by Tyler Goodman to tie the game at nine. Goodman would come back down the floor after grabbing the board off a Tyler Kirkland block to lay in an easy basket to give Statesboro back the lead at 11-9.
    After trading turnovers, Thomas would come down and drive another layup in to tie the game back at 11 but Harvey yet again was there for another three-pointer to give Statesboro the lead for the rest of the quarter.
    “He’s a three year starter, it’s just what he does,” Hill said. “He’s been to the final four and he knows what to do. He’s our leader and it shows every night.”
    Down 17-13, Thomas hit a three at the top of the key to open the second quarter, followed by a layup by Reynolds would put Wayne up 18-17 with 6:43 left in the second quarter, which was the last time Wayne would have a lead in the game.
    From that moment on it was all Statesboro, hitting a 17-4 run the rest of the way to halftime to lead 34-22. The Blue Devils benefited from a 10-4 foul differential, getting 10 points from the charity stripe on 10-16 shooting.
    The second half was an absolute romp in favor of Statesboro. The Blue Devils outscored Wayne County 30-17 and held the Yellow Jackets to 7-of-25 shooting (28 percent) from the floor.
    “The defense was there pretty well for most of the night,” Hill said. “We went from man to zone and it really hurt them down the stretch.”
    Harvey would end up with 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds. Kirkland came in behind with 11 points and Burns finished with nine.
    Statesboro (8-6, 1-0) will host Tattnall County (8-7, 2-0) tonight at 7:30 p.m.

SHS Ladies open region with win
    A big third quarter swing propelled Statesboro 46-33 over Wayne County Friday night for their first region victory of the season.
    “There’s three top teams in our region, so each of these games against Ware and Wayne will be big,” said head coach Jeff Seier. “Wayne was a final four team last year with four seniors coming back. I think we can be good enough to compete well in this region.”
    After being tied 20-20 coming out of halftime, Statesboro came hot out of the gates with back-to-back buckets from Keisonna Rollins and a third from Lacy Robins to put the Lady Devils up 26-20. Two possessions later Lacy would hit a three, followed by another layup to give her seven points in a row and put Statesboro up 31-22.
    However even down nine Wayne wasn’t done fighting. The Lady Jackets answered with six straight points of their own to cut the deficit back to 35-29, but that’s the closest the game would be from that point on.
    “I’m sure they have us circled on the calendar for when we got down there,” Seier said.
    Statesboro would wind up outscoring Wayne 26-13 in the second half, benefiting from shooting 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) ad compared to their first half clip of 6-of-27 (22.2 percent).
    “Playing more posts in the second half gave us higher percentage shots,” Seier said.
    Statesboro took the initial lead heading into the second quarter, geeting as far ahead as six points with a 17-11 score, aided by five points off back-to-back buckets by Molly Mikell.
    However it was after Mikell’s shooting stretch Statesboro fell cold. Wayne County would hit a 9-0 run from the 5:21 mark all the way to the last minute of the quarter, even retaking the lead with 2:41 remaining in the half off a baseline jumper by Jada Balsinger.
    During the stretch Statesboro wouldn’t buy a basket, shooting 0-for-7 during the Wayne run. It didn’t help Wayne was able to pull down five offensive rebounds during the run, cutting into the possible possessions Statesboro could have had.
    “We only started with one post in Keisonna, which may have hurt us on the boards,” Seier said. “The second half we came out with Keisonna and Victoria (Harris) and that cleaned things up.”
    An Amber Robins three off a pass from her sister Lacy with 52 seconds left finally killed the run, but neither team could manage a bucket in the final minute to go into halftime tied at 20 points apiece.
    Lacy Robins led the way in scoring with 16 points, seven rebounds and six steals. Mikell and Rollins each had nine points, while Dayonnna Henry added six assists and Victoria Harris notched ten rebounds.
    SHS (8-5, 1-0) stays home tonight when the Lady Devils take on Tattnall County (4-10, 1-0) at 6:30 p.m.