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Published Wednesday, March 04, 2009 in Sports

Win has another Cougar lineup headed to state quarterfinals

By Stuart Crosby

The Newnan Times-Herald

STONE MOUNTAIN -- Reaching state quarterfinals seems to have become old hat to Newnan High School athletic teams this school year.

The Newnan Cougars overcame a height disadvantage Wednesday night with solid defense throughout the evening as they defeated the Redan Raiders 46-35 to reach Class AAAAA's Elite 8.

Senior Russell Powell scored 13 points and connected on 9 of 10 free-throw opportunities in the fourth quarter to help push Newnan into the state basketball quarterfinals.

Much of the opportunities came with Powell controling the clock at the point-guard position as the Cougars held an opponent to their second-lowest offensive output of the season while using a stingy man-to-man defense that held Redan senior and Tennessee signee Kenny Hall, one of Redan's two 6-foot-9 post players, in check.

So far, the state basketball playoffs for Newnan have followed much the same pattern as last year's Class AAAAA football playoffs and maybe for good reason. Five of head coach Harold Goodman's players, including all three of his seniors, were part of that success, which continued with a trip to the state semifinals.

Alan Bonner recorded 12 points, Antwan Johnson had eight points, Alec Ogletree had six and Zander Ogletree had five points as part of a team effort. All four, in addition to Bonner, were football standouts last season for the Cougars.

On Wednesday, Newnan won a second-round basketball game with defense, holding Hall and his 23-points-per-game average to just four points.

"It was a team effort on defense," said Goodman. "We went with man-to-man most of the game and Russell hit the free throws in the fourth. There is still a long way to go and we will need to have an effort like this again on Saturday."

With a 25-3 record, the basketball Cougars will now be looking for a trip to the Final Four as well. They'll travel to Fort Valley State University for Saturday's South Region semifinal against 28-1 Valdosta in a game to be played at 5:30 p.m.

Valdosta defeated Riverdale 64-61 in its second round game Wednesday night.

As for Newnan's win over a 19-8 Redan lineup that won a Region 2-AAAAA title, the Cougars "it wasn't a pretty game tonight but it did have the right result," said Goodman. "I was proud of the way the kids played defense especially against (their) No. 33 (Kenny Hall)."

Newnan went to halftime leading 24-15 in a score more resembling football than basketball. The 15 points allowed by Newnan in the game marked the third time this season that they have held an opponent to that number.

In the third period, the Raiders cut the Cougars lead to 28-21 but weren't able to get closer than five in the remainder of the stanza as they trailed 32-26 going into the fourth period.

Newnan took a lead for good early in the second period, With Redan leading 11-10 in the first minute of the quarter, Bonner and Zander Ogletree drilled three-pointers to start a 14-4 run through the balance of the period to take control.

The first 4:37 of the game was scoreless until Redan's other 6-foot-9 post player Raymond Gregory slammed the first basket of the game homeward followed a minute later with a basket by Lattarance Carter to give the Raiders a 4-0 lead.

Alan Bonner gave the Cougars their first points of the game on a three-pointer with 2:58 remaining to start an 8-1 run to give the Cougars an 8-4 lead with 27 seconds remaining but the game would be tied at 8-8 at the end of the first period as the Raiders began a 7-2 run, leading to the 11-10 lead.

Goodman was thrilled with the effort shown on defense as Carter led Redan with 12 points and Gregory scored nine.

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