By Chris McCarthy/Editor
The Glencoe boys basketball team is now two wins away from a third straight Etowah County Schools Tournament title.
In the tournament quarterfinals on Monday (Jan. 18), the No. 4 seed Yellow Jackets jumped out early against Gaston and cruised to a 60-36 win at Gadsden State.
Glencoe (14-6) plays No. 1 seed Southside in the semifinals on Wednesday.
Anthony Morris paced the Yellow Jackets with 20 points, followed by Austin Hancock with nine, Scott Bradley and Dillon Tidmore with eight each and Micah McHenry with six.
Tidmore grabbed seven rebounds, while Morris and Bradley each cleared six.
“Sometimes we didn’t play as smart as I would have liked tonight, but we played hard and had a lot of hustle plays,” said head coach Tommy Stanley. “The last few weeks we’ve really been looking for other people [to score] and not playing selfishly, and that’s really made a difference. As far as our defense, if you hold a team like Gaston to 36 points, that’s not bad.”
Javonte Pope led the Bulldogs with 14 points, while Jordan Douglas added eight.
The Yellow Jackets opened the game with a 9-0 run on the way to a 17-7 lead after one quarter.
Jordan Douglas’ basket at the 5:32 mark of the second period drew Gaston within 17-13, but that was the last time that the Dawgs would be within single digits. Glencoe closed out the first half with a 10-1 stretch to take a 27-14 lead at intermission.
The Jackets began the second half on a 13-4 run and led 40-28 after three quarters.
“Defensively, we have to be good every night,” said Stanley. “We have to hold the other team to one possession and out, get rebounds and screen out. When we do that, we can be pretty good.”