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Published Monday, February 20, 2012 in Sports

Photo by Jeffrey Leo

Newnan sophomore Donnell Dean, above, and the rest of the Cougars head to the Class AAAAA state basketball tournament this week.

Region 2-AAAAA Tournament: Cougars drop finale, finish 4th

By Doug Gorman

The Newnan Times-Herald

ATLANTA - The Newnan High boys basketball team will hit the road to open the Class AAAAA state tournament next week against Region 1-AAAAA champion Valdosta.

The sixth-seeded Cougars finished as the fourth seed from 2-AAAAA on Saturday night after suffering a 60-51 loss to Westlake in their tournament's third-place game.

The Lions (24-3), who hadn't lost an in-state game all season, were upset on Friday night by No. 4 seed M.L. King. That set up an all-DeKalb County final between MLK and rival Stephenson, which finished seventh of eight teams during the regular season.

Newnan fell behind 35-21 at the end of the first half, but nearly pulled off a stunning second-half comeback before the Lions closed out the game at the free-throw line.

"We just made a couple of adjustments at halftime," said Newnan head coach Rod Ladd. "The kids came out and executed. I am just really proud of the effort."

With just over a minute to go in the game, Newnan's Darrallel Morrow converted a shot to cut the Westlake lead to 53-51, but that was as close as the Cougars could get.

Trailing by five points with less than 30 seconds left in the game, Newnan had one last chance to cut the lead back down to two when Kaceon Person was fouled shooting a 3-pointer, but he missed all three free throw attempts.

Westlake then helped secure the victory when Christopher Thornton forced a Newnan turnover.

Westlake's Keenan Williams iced the victory for the Lions by hitting two free throws in the closing seconds.

Williams was the offensive catalyst for the Lions in the first half, scoring 14 of his game-high 21 points in the first 16 minutes of the contest.

His fast-break basket after a steal pushed the Lions' lead to 32-13

Mondarius Colton helped spark the Cougars' second-half comeback with two baskets in the third quarter.

Colton is just one of three seniors on the Newnan roster, and he stepped up in Saturday's contest to lead the Cougars with 17 points.

Maurice Arnold's 3-pointer in the third quarter also helped Newnan comeback effort.

Newnan trimmed the lead to 42-36 at the end of the third quarter when Donell Dean drilled a pair of free throws.

The Cougar continued to flex their offensive muscle in the fourth quarter putting a scare into the regular-season Region 2-AAAAAA champions.

Newnan used a stellar defense to set up its second-half offensive fireworks.

The Cougars were able to control the boards in the third quarter often holding Westlake to just one shot.

Westlake managed to convert just two shots from the field in the third quarter and Newnan took advantage of the dry spell to turn the first-half route into a nail-bitter of a finish.

The Cougars started the Region 2-AAAAA tournament with a 42-41 victory over Langston Hughes on Wednesday night, but lost to Stephenson on Friday night to set up Saturday's contest with the Lions.

It was Newnan's third loss this year to Westlake as the Lions knocked off the Cougars 68-41 and 60-47 during the regular season.

Despite the loss, Ladd is happy with the direction his young team is heading.

"A month ago, this team would have quit once we fell way behind," Ladd said. "Now they are listening, learning from their mistakes and trying to do what we are asking of them," Ladd said.

Before dropping its last two games in the Region 2-AAAAA Tournament, Newnan had won four consecutive games.

Valdosta, which upset its tournament's No. 1 seed In Tift County, may have added motivation for the Class AAAAA tournament matchup.

It will be the second first-round state playoff matchup between schools this year. In November, Newnan's football team - also a No. 4 seed - upset 1-AAAAA champion Valdosta on its home field.

In addition, the Cougars defeated Valdosta in the 2008-09 Class AAAAA basketball quarterfinals on their way to a berth in the Final Four.

•••

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

WESTLAKE (60): Keenan Williams 19, Christopher Thornton 12, Jalen Cummings 10, Tyler Williams 8, Andre Elam 5, Jeremy Postell 4, Darius Sharpe 2,

NEWNAN (51): Mondarius Colton 17, Maurice Arnold 12, Darrallel Morrow 6, Immanuel Griggs 6, Donnell Dean 6, Tray Mathews 2, Kaceon Person 2.

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