Cedar Shoals Edges New Faith Christian Academy For "Emotional" Win

On Friday, the Georgia Interstate Hoops Classic tipped off at Cedar Shoals High School as the Cedar Shoals Jaguars boys and girls teams were in action to get the second annual high school basketball event underway. With just two games slated for the opening night, the Cedar Shoals Lady Jaguars would get things going with a 53-50 win over the Carver-Atlanta Lady Panthers.

The night cap matchup would feature the Cedar Shoals boys team facing New Faith Christian Academy and after a slow first few minutes of the game with New Faith leading 3-1 in the opening period of play, the Jaguars would close out the first quarter with an 9-3 run to lead 10-6 at the break. In the second quarter, freshmen Deston Foote and Devin Hubbard along with senior Madrell Glenn, who all combined for 22 points, helped spark a run in the period that would lead to the Jaguars taking a 28-18 lead by halftime.

However, with a clear size advantage, New Faith would battle back and get within three points in the third quarter as they trailed 37-34 following an Orein Champion three point basket, however, the Jaguars would go on another run and lead 44-36 heading into the fourth quarter. And despite New Faith outscoring Cedar Shoals 20-16 in the fourth quarter, they would not be able to overcome the eight point deficit heading into the final period of play, thus allowing the Jaguars to pick up the 60-58 win, just their second win of the season. Cedar Shoals was led by Alex Koch with 14 points in the win.

“It’s been a tough year for us and it took a lot of coaching and a lot of just us coming together,” Cedar Shoals head coach, L’Dreco Thomas said after Friday’s win. A win that came with a lot of emotion for the Jaguars coach as his team had been struggle to pick up a win since their first win back on December 1. “I’ve got a lot of emotions. We’ve had a tough year, I’m just glad to get a win right now,” Thomas said. The Jaguars will look to make it two in a row on Saturday when they take on Woodville-Tompkins.