Kell holds off late Dutchtown surge for 60-46 win and trip back to semifinals
On Tuesday, the defending Georgia High School Association Class 5A boys basketball champions, the Kell Longhorns, winners of 25 consecutive games, continued their title defense in a quarterfinals matchup as they played host to the Dutchtown Bulldogs, who claimed the title back in 2020.
As the first quarter got underway, the Longhorns would connect on four three point baskets to open up the game on a 14-5 run forcing the Bulldogs to take a timeout to give coach time to talk things over with his players. However, out of the timeout, the Longhorns would force a Dutchtown turnover and cash in with another three point basket to take a 17-5 lead and would go on to close out the quarter with a 24-11 lead.
As the second quarter got underway, scoring for both teams would come at a slower pace, however the Longhorns would go up by as many as 17 points as they led 32-15, but down the stretch of the final minutes of the quarter, a quick 7-4 run would give Kell a 39-21 lead. In the third quarter, Kell would continue to push the pace extending their lead to 20 points as they took a 50-30 lead with two minutes to go in the period and would close out leading Dutchtown 54-33 at the end of the period.
Dutchtown would get the fourth quarter started with some momentum as they opened up on 12-0 run to cut the Kell lead down to eight points as they trailed 54-46 with 3:04 to go in the game, but a quick 4-0 run by the Longhorns would extend the lead back up to 12 points as they lead 58-46 with 1:14 to go in the game and would hold on for the 60-46 win, led by a 26 point night from C.J. Brown. "Our goal was to get back and try to repeat and our guys have worked hard and earned this opportunity to advance and we got two more to go," Kell head coach, Jermaine Sellers said after Tuesday's win.
Next up for the Longhorns will be Winder-Barrow on Friday in the semifinals and Sellers said that the focus of his players as they start to prepare will be "the defensive end of the floor," and they will be challenging the Longhorns to "compete and get stops and rebound the ball," Sellers said.
