Bulloch Academy gained a strong foothold in region play Tuesday night with a 65-40 thumping of Augusta Preparatory School.
Senior Zach Altany scored 12 points while classmates Win Lee and Walker Blitch added 11 each as the Gators improved to 5-1 in GISA Region 4-AAA play.
Bulloch has six more region games before tournament play begins in early February.
“This puts us as a solid second-seed in the region with an opportunity to still get that top seed,” said BA head coach Chandler Dennard.
Ten Gators scored in the rout which saw the BA bench get plenty of playing time. Freshman Forrest Spence and sophomore Jaylen Evans had seven each and sophomore Ross Rainey added six.
The Gators (12-4, 5-1) took the fight to the speedy Cavaliers (11-7, 4-2) as the action was fast and furious in the opening minutes. Blitch canned back-to-back-to-back treys late in the game to give BA a 17-8 lead. Rainey’s coast-to-coast layup at the buzzer gave the Gators a 19-8 advantage.
Lee picked up the pace in the second, hitting three straight buckets with his dazzling drives to the basket. But the Cavs hung right with the Gators, scoring 10 to Bulloch’s 12. The Gators went into intermission with a 31-18 lead.
Lee opened the third with another acrobatic move to the hoop to put BA up 33-18. Walker’s layup at the 1:10 mark gave the Gators a 20-point lead, 48-28.
In the fourth, Bulloch Academy went up by as many as 28.
The Gators host non-region foe Edmund Burke Academy Friday.
Lady Gators 57, Lady Cavs 46
Junior Taylor Collins netted 16 points and sophomore Anna Newton added 16 to lead the Lady Gators to a 57-46 win over the Lady Cavaliers.
The pair wore out the high and low post spots in the paint. Newton had 11 first-quarter points and Collins had eight as Bulloch (14-4, 2-3) scored 21 points in the first eight minutes.
But the Lady Cavs (7-9, 1-4) had Amanda Murphy, wh0 put up a game-high 28 points.
In the fourth, the Lady Gators seemed to revive behind junior Haley Burke, who had 13 points on the night including a 7-of-10 performance from the free-throw line.
In B-team boys’ action earlier in the afternoon, Rainey netted a career-high 17 to lead Bulloch past Augusta Prep 36-22.
