Georgia hoops commits battle in Bainbridge

BAINBRIDGE — There were a lot of highlights in Friday night’s Bainbridge vs. Seminole County game, particularly from Georgia commits Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris.

Harris would take Crump off the dribble and to the basket, then Crump would answer with a jumper over Harris. There was also a lot of jawing, chest bumping and a few hard fouls between the two.

“It’s just part of the game … no beef or nothing,” Crump said. “It got a little physical because we got caught up in the game. We’re both competitive.”

Both players are a pair of the top juniors in the country and members of the Albany Herald’s Super 6 Team.

Off the court, the two consider each other brothers and in two years, they’ll have to play nice and work together. But Friday night, they were opponents set out on getting a win.

Crump’s Bearcats got the 80-64 victory, thanks in large part to his 33 points, while Harris led all scorers with 34 points. The two guarded each other most of the night and Harris said the matchup forces the two to bring the absolute best out of each other.

He said he took no offense to the flagrant foul Crump committed against him in the second half.

“We do this all the time,” Harris said. “We’ll be in the backyard going at each other. It’s all fun because I know he’s going to be my future teammate. He’s like my brother.”

The Bearcats started the game with a 12-2 run. Bainbridge head coach Rickey McCullough said it was to be expected that his team would come out intense in a rival game, but it was also expected that Seminole County would make a run of their own. And they did just that.

The Indians went on a 17-9 run in the second quarter to make it a 32-24 game with 3:23 left in the first half. They went into the halftime break down 37-28. The momentum would not carry over into the second half as the Bearcats maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

Harris and Crump continued to put on a show for the remainder of the game. Crump said facing someone he knows well is “real hard, but you just gotta be smarter and try to outwork him.”

While the juniors were having it out, Bainbridge’s Trevon Shaw was quietly filling out the stat sheet. The junior forward finished with 21 points to go with 19 rebounds. Devonte Jones chipped in with 17 for the Bearcats.

For the Indians, Jahmyka Pearson finished with 13 points, followed by Anfernee King with 12.