The Statesboro Blue Devils opened region play with a pair of wins over the visiting South Effingham Mustangs. The girl’s broke open a close game and went on for a 54-36 win, while the Statesboro boy’s continued their dominance with an 86-49 win over South Effingham.

For the boys the 37-point victory improved their record to 13-1. What has been even more impressive is the fact that Statesboro has averaged 67 points per game this year while allowing only 40 points per contest. In their last seven games they have been able to play every player on the team as each game has been won by at least 30 points.

“I just really love this team and how they just do their jobs and get things done,” said coach Keith LeGree. “We aren’t looking at the clock or the score we just take it one possession at a time. Every one of the kids we put out there knows their job and they are executing at a high level.”

The Mustangs came out in a man-to-man full court press and quickly paid the price as Statesboro jumped out to a 35-5 lead.

“We have so many guys who can dribble and are athletic,” LeGree said. “Our whole starting five can handle the basketball well. I don’t think we are a team you should press, but if you try and press us it’s like, pick your poison.”

The Blue Devils have been deadly from behind the arc, and have also been extremely accurate from the free throw line. Tuesday they were just 16-29 from the line and only hit three 3-pointers. The Blue Devils made the majority of their points on layups and putbacks.

“The thing I liked about today was we took what the defense was giving us,” LeGree said. “They were trying to press us and so we drove past them and to the basket. We were taking advantage of the numbers as we would have a three on two or four on three and drove to the basket or made a pass to an open player.”

Starting off 1-0 in region play was important for LeGree, and the way the Bue Devils did it in such impressive fashion is something he hopes gives the players even more confidence as the region schedule just gets tougher from here.

“We expect things to get tougher and know what is coming up,” LeGree said. “We have told our guys that we haven’t won anything yet. No one is giving us anything for having a 13-1 record, we have to keep our heads down and keep playing the way we have.”

Statesboro was led by Devin Mikell and JaCaiden Cone who each had 14 points. D.J. Brown added 11 points. Next up Statesboro hosts Effingham Saturday with the girls at 5:00 and the boys at approximately 6:30.

The Statesboro Lady Devils led 14-13 over South Effingham at the end of the first quarter, but started to pull away in the second as they allowed only six points and opened up a 29-21 lead. Head coach Marty Holder appreciated how the team played in the second quarter and maintained that same intensity for the rest of the game.

“South Effingham is a well-coached team and I felt they played about as well as they could in the first quarter,” Holder said. “I felt like if we could take their best punch and still be winning, I thought we were in pretty good shape. We didn’t play our best in the first, but started to get things going and I think we maintained a pretty good lead the rest of the game.”

This is the first season since Holder has been the head coach at Statesboro High, they haven’t had a winning record entering region play. To start the season 1-0 in region play is something he thought was vitally important.

“This was a huge win for us,” Holder said. “We have so many players that are starting for the first time and many young players in the mix. They are just starting to find some chemistry and that is so important as I think we will only continue to improve.”

Holder knows the Blue Devils are in a very good region and feels like they will need to continue to improve and come together if they want to make it back to the state playoffs.

“When you are in a region with teams like Bradwell, Brunswick and Glynn Academy as well as Lakeside and Evans this is an extremely tough region, especially on the girl’s side. Our young players like Zoie Lundy and Zariyah Major are mixing in with Gerziya Haggray, Kennedy Myers and Azziza Flowers. We are building depth with returning players and newcomers and I really like the direction we are heading in.”

The Lady Devils were led by Haggray with 18 points while Flowers added 10 points as they improve to 7-8. Up next Statesboro hosts Effingham Saturday at 5:00.