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Written by Will Huff, Thomasville Times-Enterprise

CAIRO — The Syrupmakers hosted yet another bout of summer basketball on Monday, this time inviting powerhouse Calhoun and arch-rival Bainbridge to Cairo High School. Cairo looked good and played with a lot of energy and pace on the day. Though they dropped the first game against Calhoun, they bounced back with a gutsy win over the Bearcats.

“It was actually a pretty good camp. All three teams came in a played hard. All three teams were physical,” said Cairo head coach JJ Cooper about the importance of summer ball.

“This summer, replacing our senior group that we had last year, the most important thing for us is figuring out our identity. We’ll be scrappy, we’ll have pressure full-court, we have to use our defense to help us get easy baskets on offense.”

Cairo will be replacing a lot of production as they are only bringing back three players with varsity experience. But, nothing brings out the best in players than a rivalry game, even a summer exhibition.

“That Bainbridge game was actually a pretty good fight for us. Every time we go against Bainbridge it’s always a pretty good show,” Cooper said. “Bainbridge had some size compared to us, so we had to find a way to be gritty. Picking up full-court actually kind of helped us a little bit. We were able to turn our defense into offense. It was a really good game, very competitive and full of energy.”

Cairo was down by four or five for the majority of the game. But, a push in the final minutes of the contest put the Syrupmakers ahead and ultimately gave them the victory.