Thomas County Central's Quintavius Cooksey carries the ball into the lane against Potters House Christian at Holiday Hoopfest on Monday.

THOMASVILLE — Holiday Hoopfest was not kind to Thomas County Central’s boys basketball team on the first day of competition.

The Yellow Jackets had trouble contesting with a big Potters House Christian team in the opening game of the after-Christmas tournament, as they took a lopsided 86-41 loss Monday afternoon. 

Central, now in the loser’s bracket, will play Valdosta at 11:30 a.m., now vying for fifth place in the tournament.

“We came out dead,” Central coach Will Lewis said. “I told them it could come down to guard play because I already new they were big. Their guards were hitting shots. We were missing layups.”

From the outset, Central struggled. Playing without point guard DeOndre Sullivan, who was unavailable, Bentley Green hit a 3 to score his team’s first points in the first, but the Lions had already taken an 8-3 led with 5:32 left in the quarter.

PHCA had a clear size advantage, and it utilized it well, forcing turnovers and and dominating on the perimeter, hitting shot after shot. The Lions led the Yellow Jackets 29-11 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lions continued to extend its lead, going on a 16-1 run in the early part of the second quarter, eventually working their lead to a commanding 45-30 with 1:03 left until the half. In the second half, Central had some opportunities to make some good plays, with multiple players getting steals and running uncontested to the basket, but not getting scores off of those opportunities.

For Central, Lewis says the challenge is not coming out of the gate in a lackadaisical way and finding ways to compete. For that to happen, the mindset has to be there.

“For us right now, it’s mental,” Lewis said. “We’ve got to learn how to fight through it. Not having the quarterback of our offense is not an excuse. It’s part of the process. We’ve just got to grow up mentally.”