Albany Deerfield-Windsor stops Americus Southland, 59-29

ALBANY – The Deerfield-Windsor Knights (18-11) advanced to the second round of the GIAA boys basketball playoffs with an impressive 59-29 win over arch-rival Southland Academy Wednesday night at Deerfield-Windsor in Albany. The two teams had split the season series but Wednesday night, the Deerfield-Windsor defense made the difference.

“Defense is what we have stressed all season,” said DWS head coach Rundy Foster. “We got away from some of what we had been doing earlier in the year lately. I felt like we played defense the way we should tonight,” he said after the game.

The Knight defense held Southland to just 10 first-half points and Deerfield-Windsor took a 26-10 lead into the break. Southland had a short rally in the third quarter to close to within nine points but the Knights responded with a rally of their own late in the quarter and stretched the lead back to 19 heading into the final quarter.

Mason Johnson led the Knights in scoring with 18 points and Jake Hatcher followed with 15. David Hutchins added eight.

None of the Raiders managed double figures in the game.

Deerfield-Windsor will now have a tall task in round two when they face Heritage of Newnan. The Hawks are the top-rated team in Class AAA of GIAA with a 24-4 record. The game is scheduled for Saturday in Macon at Stratford Academy with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.

By Joe Whitfield
Sports EditorJoeWhitfield[email protected]