BERKMAR 65, ALLATOONA 45

Our first quarterfinal matchup of the 2016 Forcht Bank King of the Bluegrass featured a battle of Georgia schools with Berkmar (8-3) taking on Allatoona (6-4). The opening quarter of play was all Berkmar from the tip. The Patriots got off to a fast 5-0 start and extended their lead to as many as nine points midway through the quarter. A short run by Allatoona got the Buccaneer within five points but Berkmar pulled away for the 21-12 lead at the quarter break. The second quarter featured much of the same as Allatoona made three early runs to get as close as five points but they never made it any tighter. It was an 8-3 run by Berkmar that ended that half and sent the Patriots to the locker room ahead 36-28.

The second half looked much like the first half. The Buccaneers got as close as six points on two different occasions in the third quarter but couldn't manage to get any closer. An 8-2 run to end the third quarter extended the Berkmar lead to 50-40. The Patriots continued to roll in the fourth quarter with a 13-3 run to push their lead to as many as twenty points at 63-43. The Buccaneers never managed to get any closer as Berkmar advanced to the semifinals with the 65-45 victory.

Jay Estime led the Patriots in scoring with 21 points. Zach Cooks and Al Durham added 18 and 13 points respectively for Berkmar. Allatoona was led by junior Trey Doomes with 24 points and 9 rebounds and Mike Johnson added 13 points for the Buccaneers.
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Berkmar vs. Winner Bowling Green/Ballard -- Monday 9:00pm

Allatoona vs. Loser Bowling Green/Ballard -- Monday 4:30pm

ALLATOONA 68, SAINT RITA OF CASCIA 56

The first matchup of our second day of action featured the Mustangs of Saint Rita of Cascia (4-2) and the Buccaneers of Allatoona (6-3). A slow start to the action saw the teams go 0-5 in the opening 1:30 of play before the Buccaneers took the early 3-0 lead. The teams battled to three lead changes over the next couple minutes of play with Colton Waggoner's three-pointer jump starting a 17-2 run by Allatoona. The sloppy first quarter which featured 17 turnovers ended with a 22-7 lead for Allatoona. The Buccaneers defense turned up the heat in the second quarter forcing four more turnovers in the opening half of the quarter to extend their lead to 31-10 following a Trey Doomes dunk. The Allatoona lead grew to as many as 23 points with the Buccaneers taking a 36-18 lead into halftime.

The third quarter started much the same way for Saint Rita as the Mustangs just couldn't get things going falling behind by as many as 26 points with two minutes remaining in the quarter. A 7-0 run by Saint Rita helped cut the Allatoona lead to 19 less than a minute into the final quarter. A Jordan Matthews basket with 1:53 remaining cut the lead down to 14 points before Allatoona nailed five straight free throws extending the lead back to 64-46. The Mustangs closed the game on a 10-4 run but ran out of time as Allatoona took home the 68-56 victory.

Saint Rita's junior Jordan Matthew led the way for the Mustangs with a game-high 32 points. Joel Waatts added 7 points for the Mustangs off the bench. Allatoona had three players in double digits with Trey Doomes 18 points leading the way. Tyler Jackson and Tobi Adeyeye added 11 and 10 points respectively.

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Allatoona vs. Winner Lee/Berkmar - Saturday 9:00pm

Saint Rita vs. Loser Lee/Berkmar - Saturday 9:00pm