Red Devils run into finals

by Clark Leonard/Times-Georgian

The Bowdon High School boys basketball team put on a defensive clinic in the first half on Tuesday, then turned it on offensively in the third quarter to cruise to a 63-23 semifinal victory against Haralson County in the 34th Annual Haralson County Invitational Tournament.

With the win, the Red Devils (7-0) moved into today’s 8:30 p.m. championship game against Villa Rica (9-3), a rare in-county matchup for the two schools whose teams are both off to strong starts this season.

Bowdon coach Vic Coggins said it will be tough playing a team like VR without point guard Nathan Montgomery, who also missed Tuesday’s game with the flu.

“We’re going to be a little short-handed against a very deep team,” Coggins said. “So we’re excited. It’s a great opportunity to play a bigger school and a very good team and to play against coach (Jason) Robinson.”

The Red Devils didn’t score until the 5:26 mark of the first quarter when J.B. Stephens nailed a 3-pointer to get things going, but Bowdon forced the Rebels (3-7) into 14 first-half turnovers while holding them to only nine points in the first 16 minutes as the Red Devils took a 28-9 lead into the half.

“They knew our weakness, and they attacked it,” HC coach Whitt Brown said. “And like I said, I got outcoached. My kids, we’ve got a lot of work to do. The good news is we’ve got a little time before region starts.”

Then Bowdon scored the first 13 points of the second half and 27 of the first 31 to make it 55-13 on another Stephens 3-pointer late in the third quarter.

“That was a good spurt defensively. We talked about after the half trying to come out and put the pressure on them, finish it off,” Coggins said. “And our defense did the job.”

Junior Cedric Strickland led the Red Devils with 21 points, eight rebounds and one block, while senior Darious Moten added 17 points for Bowdon.

Cody Maria and Brandon Parker scored six points each for Haralson County. Brown said Bowdon-Villa Rica should make for a great matchup.

“If Villa Rica’s on (with) 3-pointers, then, you know, it’ll be difficult for Bowdon,” Brown said. “And if Bowdon’s able to get the ball inside, it will be difficult for Villa Rica.”

Coggins just hopes his team comes out strong for what should be a highly-anticipated game.

“It’s exciting. I think it’ll be fun to watch,” Coggins said. “I hope it’ll be fun to watch.”