In a season full of struggles and disappointing finishes for Newnan's boys basketball team, it certainly felt good Friday for the Cougars to make their closest rivals suffer. Especially after being dealt a loss to East Coweta earlier this year.
After losing at home to the Indians on Jan. 7 by four points, Newnan showed head coach Rod Ladd it wasn't about to let another game get away from them in a 71-53 victory at John Thrower Gym.
It might have been the Cougars' most complete game of the year, not to mention a huge confidence booster.
East Coweta, meanwhile, lost its seventh straight game.
(To view or purchase photos from this game, visit http://photos.times-herald.com/mycapture and click on Sports / Basketball for the photo gallery.)
A week after the Cougars lost in double-overtime to Langston Hughes and watched a 14-point lead vanish, Newnan picked up just its second Region 2-AAAAA victory over the year heading into the final week of the regular season.
Improving to 11-12 overall and 2-10 in region play, the Cougars may prove dangerous if they continue to play as they did against East Coweta, which fell 8-14 overall and 1-11.
"I think we really grew up tonight," Ladd said. "We played hard for four quarters of basketball."
They also turned in a solid defensive performance, limiting second-chance points by East Coweta.
After building a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Cougars pushed the lead to 30-16 at the break.
Immanuel Griggs took over inside on Friday night, finishing with a game-high 24 points. Griggs put the exclamation point on his performance with three nasty dunks.
As the Cougars were slowly pulling away with some big baskets on one end, they were frustrating East Coweta on defense.
Willie Holloway's basket and Jeremy Farmer's long-range 3-pointer were the Indians' only field goals of the second quarter while falling behind by 14 at halftime.
By the third quarter, Newnan had tuned out East Coweta's vociferous student section to take total control of the game.
"I think our kids are used to this rivalry," Ladd said. "They have experienced it before, so they knew what to expect."
Donnell Dean added 15 points and Kaceon Person 10 to join Griggs in double figures for the Cougars.
East Coweta was paced by Michael Anthony's 12 points and Willie Holloway's 10.
