Grayson girls, South Gwinnett boys secure 3rd place

COVINGTON, Ga. - Bianca Fizoutay scored 18 points and Grayson used a huge, second half run to pull away from Archer 67-44 in the third-place game.

The game turned in Grayson’s favor for good midway through the third quarter.

Asia McCoy went on a personal, 8-0 run to pull Archer even at 32-32 at the four-minute mark, but Grayson responded with an 18-0 run. That long spurt, which stretched into the early stages of the fourth
period, included a 3-pointer each from Fizouaty, a first-team
all-region selection and Stetson signee, and Victoria Dames and a pair of Archer technical fouls, and it was a 50-32 game.

The sophomore Dames and Jazmine Robinson each finished with 14 points for Grayson, which will travel to the Region 7 runner-up for the first round of the state playoffs.

McCoy, also a first-team all-region selection, led all scorers with 20 points, while Amari Heard added 13 and averaged 18 points in three tournament games.

South Gwinnett boys 51, Archer 47

The South Gwinnett boys went from being the lowest seeded team in the tournament to a third-place finish, thanks to a victory in the
consolation game.

Archer (15-12) got to within five at 43-38 on a long 3-pointer from
Shakim Jenks with 3:14 left, and it was again a five-point game when
Brent Smith went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line at the 2:05 mark.

But defensive specialist DeJuan Horne tallied all of his points on a
5-for-6 stay at the line over the next minute, securing the victory
for the Comets.

Zawdie Jackson scored 16 points to lead South Gwinnett (11-16), which won just once in league play during the regular season, yet defeated third-seeded Shiloh in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. The Comets came within a lay-in with two seconds left by No. 2 seed Grayson’s Travis Anderson in Friday’s semifinals from getting to the championship game.

The Snellville school will travel to Region 7 runner-up Meadowcreek in next week’s first round of the state playoffs.

"I'm really proud of our kids for how we did this weekend," said South Gwinnett coach Ty Anderson. "Our guys are playing their best
basketball. We just played our best basketball games of the year. This is, in my opinion, the best region in the state top to bottom, night in and night out. These games have been slugfests all year and that prepared us for a region tournament that was highly competitive."

For Archer, Jenks led the way with 16 points, while Malik Sproles and Bryce Brown scored 13 each. The Tigers visit Region 7 champion Norcross in the opening round.