Jordan, Brown too much for Seminoles

CONYERS, Ga. - Things didn’t go well for Rockdale Friday against Tucker, but a day later, the Conyers school got back to its winning ways. Jalen Jordan scored 22 points to lead a quartet of players in double figures as the Bulldogs overwhelmed Salem 75-48.

Friday’s 59-38 loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for Rockdale (14-6), but stepping out of region play for the Saturday matinee, Jordan made sure there wouldn’t be a losing streak.

The unsigned junior guard hit a trio of 3-pointers over a three and a half minute stretch at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters. The last trifecta made it 24-17, and Conner Ferrell followed with a 3-pointer of his own and the Bulldogs capped a 9-0 run and led 27-17 with about five minutes to go until halftime.

Salem (9-10) never truly got back in the game, though it was still just a 46-35 deficit midway through the third. Jordan followed with a put back off a missed dunk by Ferrell, then Dwayne Brown had a strong drive and reverse lay-up and went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and Rockdale built a 15-point cushion.

Jordan knocked down the last of his six 3-pointers, and Brown, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, added two easy buckets and the Rockdale lead was 65-40 at the 3:25 mark of the fourth. Ferrell added 11 points and Ray Washington had 10 of his 12 points in the first half to help pace Rockdale.

“I am just happy that our guys were able to bounce back from that crushing loss to Tucker (Friday),” said Bulldogs coach Tyrone King. “I think Dwayne Brown did an excellent job on the glass tonight. When he is playing at the top of his game I don’t think many teams can stop us. We really stepped it up defensively (Saturday).”

Salem, which saw its two-game winning streak come to an end, was led by Chandler Davis’ 11 points.

The Salem girls got 22 points from Shay Tarver and broke open a close game with a late-third quarter run in defeating Rockdale 51-39 in the first game of the afternoon.

Rockdale (6-12), which dropped its eighth consecutive game, got as close as it would be the entire game at 30-29 after Sydney Fields’ foul line jumper with 3:35 to go in the third. Fields and Dazjai McDonald had four points each during a 12-5 stretch that erased the Bulldogs’ eight-point deficit, but Salem quickly built back its cushion.

Daijah Whitfield converted a lay-up and Paris Scott knocked down consecutive 3-pointers and it was a 38-31 game. Tarver closed a nine-point quarter with two free throws and Salem led 42-31 heading into the final period.

In the fourth, Rockdale pulled to within 46-39 when Fields capped her team-high 13-point day with a free throw, but the visitors from across town wouldn’t score again.

Salem (13-7), which snapped a brief, two-game losing streak, built a big lead with a dominant opening quarter. Rockdale didn’t convert a field goal in the first, while Tarver immediately got to work, hitting a corner three and a off-hand lay-in and the Seminoles went up 12-1 five and a half minutes in.

The Seminoles’ largest lead of the first half was at 16-3 when Rosie Kyles assisted on Saaliyah Greene’s jumper, then Kyles had a lay-in in the early stages of the second. Rockdale’s Alexia Bryant came off the bench and had a put back to seal a 9-2 run and make it an 18-12 game with 3:23 left, and that was the margin at the half.

Salem was playing without LSU signee Ayanna Mitchell, who injured her elbow earlier in the week and also didn’t play in Friday’s loss to Loganville.