photo by Carol Heard

POINT GUARD JEREMY HARPER of the Bainbridge Bearcats controls the ball as he jumps through two Americus-Sumter County High School Panthers defenders. No. 5 is Jamarcus Stone and No. 40 is Kyle Champion.

Cats extend win streak to 11

By Joe Crine (Contact) | Post-Searchlight

Published Friday, February 5, 2010

The Bainbridge High School Bearcats extended their winning streak to 11 straight and their overall record to 19-4 Tuesday night with a 70-37 Region 1AAAA victory over the Americus-Sumter County Panthers.

“We have gotten better and better with each game.” Bearcats head coach Rickey McCullough said after his team’s fourth Region 1AAAA win without a loss in their final home game of the season.

The Bearcats, who returned to action Friday night with a Region 1AAAA game with the Thomas County Central High School Yellow Jackets in Thomas County, will take on the Baker County High School Bears tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Newton.

They will close out their regular season Tuesday with a 7:30 p.m. Region 1AAAA game with the Lee County High School Trojans in Leesburg.

Forward Davario Thomas broke the scoring ice just 14 seconds into the game, banging home a field goal to give the Bearcats an early 2-0 lead.

The Panthers quickly pulled even 2-2 when point guard Deonte Fulks hit a jumper at the 7:32 mark.

After forward Devon Baulkman hit a three-point jumper from beyond the head of the key at the 7:20 mark to put the Bearcats up 5-2, and point guard James Burton hit a layup off the left glass at the 6:43 mark to cut the lead to 5-4, the Bearcats went on a 10-0 scoring run to increase their lead to 15-4.

The run started with a three-point jumper by guard Justin Harris at the 6:30 mark, continued with a free throw by Baulkman at the 6:10 mark and a three-point jumper from the right side by guard Jeremy Harper at the 5:35 mark and concluded with a layup off the left glass by Baulkman at the 5:06 mark.

The Bearcats were on top by five, 19-14, at the end of the first quarter.

The Bearcats scored the first six points of the second quarter to increase their lead back to double digits at 25-14.

Consecutive layups by center Rodney Glenn at the 7:12 and 5:51 marks made it 23-14.

The final two points of the 6-0 run came on two free throws by Baulkman with 3:55 remaining in the second quarter.

The Bearcats were ahead 31-24 at halftime.

Consecutive three-point jumpers by Harper and Baulkman and a layup by Harris late in the third quarter helped give the Bearcats a 19-point, 51-32 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Bearcats outscored the Panthers 19-5 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The Bearcats were led by Thomas with a game-high 21 points.

Baulkman was also in double figures with 19. Glenn added 8, Harris put in 7 and Harper scored 6.