TIFTON – Tift County’s Blue Devils took an early lead in the Region 1-AAAAAAA basketball battles Friday night, winning 56-47 from Lowndes. The Lady Devils were not as fortunate, falling behind early in a 64-54 loss.

The Devils scored the opening basket and trailed for a grand total of 2:06 against the Vikings, who came in with a 12-3 mark.

“I’m overall pleased,” said Tift head coach Chris Wade, whose squad improved to 10-5.

Rashod Bateman set the tone early for Tift with two three-pointers that put them up 6-3. Lowndes tied the game at 10, then led 12-10 on free throws by Miguel Acevedo.

Montavious Terrell drilled a three-point shot with 10 seconds left in the opening frame to put the Devils up 13-12. From there, the hosts gradually expanded their lead.

Bateman opened the second with four more points. Alex Johnson briefly tied the game at 17 for Lowndes, but J.J. McClain started an 11-3 run, which was capped by slam dunk from Bateman. They were ahead 28-22 at halftime.

The Vikings kept pace briefly to start the third quarter on a three-point shot by Will Fernandez, but another Devils run, this one 10-3, put the game away. Bateman continued to terrorize Lowndes, scoring 20 points through three quarters.

When the Vikings finally slowed Bateman’s outside shooting, Tift went inside. McClain scored four more and a behind-the-back pass from Terrell to Tyree Marshall meant that the Vikings trailed by 12 points, 46-34, going into the last eight minutes.

McClain’s shot under the basket gave the Blue Devils their largest lead at 54-40 with 4:06 to go. Lowndes trailed by double-digits starting in the third quarter and did not get under that figure until Fernandez hit from behind the arc at 1:38. Tift held the ball the rest of the way.

Fernandez came in averaging 16 points per game. Tift’s defense limited him to nine points on just three baskets. Wade said two of those were tough shots for Fernandez to make.

Terrell had 13 points and C.J. Copeland had nine to go with Bateman’s 20.

Tift also had eight points from McClain and two from Otis Jackson before the latter fouled out.

Wade praised both players’ efforts under the basket.

“J.J. played excellent,” he said. “O.T.,” he said, referring to Jackson, was able to finish his plays.

Lowndes was led by 12 points each from Acevedo and Johnson.

VIKETTES 64 TIFT 54

The Lady Devils had a tough start to their region schedule Friday, managing four field goals in the first half and trailed 30-15 midway through the contest.

Lowndes was paced in the first by four points from Marcella Gray and Nia Bussey put them up 11-5 at the end of the quarter. Destiny Johnson’s steal led to Tift’s first points and she and San Graddic provided all of their scoring.

The Vikettes got scoring from four players during a 13-3 run that opened the second frame. Joslyn Reyes scored the first three of her game-high 18 points, but the Lady Devils had to rely on free throws for most of their scoring. Tamari Way made a shot with less than a second remaining to provide the score at intermission.

Tift started off the third with some steam, scoring more from the field in the first four minutes than they had the opening half. Reyes continued to provide the fireworks with three triples in that period as the Lady Devils clawed their way back to a six-point deficit at 34-28.

Thanks to timely defense and shooting by Kayla Freeman, Lowndes pushed the margin back to 17 points at 45-28 later in the third. However, the Lady Devils weren’t through.

Way scored on an inbounds and Nicky Jones popped the net as the quarter ended, cutting it to 13, 45-32.

Reyes got a steal to start the final quarter, then Way got hot underneath, scoring the next seven Tift points. A Jones steal led to a foul and two free throws and with 4:30 remaining, Tift was back in it at 51-45.

The score grew closer at 53-48 as Reyes hit her fifth three-pointer. Lowndes was able to answer with a Taylor Walker basket, then Freeman and Tiffany Smith pushed the lead back to 10 points.

Reyes and Jones scored four points in 20 seconds and Lowndes went to the free throw line. The Vikettes missesd the front end of a one-and-one with 48 seconds to go, but were able to snare the offensive rebound. Lowndes made half of their final eight free throws to grab the victory.

Reyes scored 19 points and Way contributed a career high 11.

Jamesha Samuel’s 19 points and Freeman’s 17 paced Lowndes.

Tift is to play Colquitt County Saturday at Moultrie. The Blue Devils and Lady Devils return to town next Friday to take on Camden County.