If the Spalding High Jaguars basketball team plays like it did against Riverdale Tuesday, it will be a tough team to beat heading into the upcoming Region 4-AAAA Tournament.

The Jags blitzed the Raiders of Riverdale in the second and third quarters, turning a tight game into a 66-54 blowout win in Region 4-AAAA Division B action at Spalding High. The Jags split the season series with Riverdale.

The Jags, winners of two of their last three games, improve to 8-9 overall and 5-6 in region play. The win for Spalding ties last year’s win total (Spalding went 8-18 last season) and currently puts the Jags in a tie for fourth place in the subregion B standings with crosstown rival Griffin (11-9, 5-6), which lost at home to first-place Jonesboro (16-4, 10-1) Tuesday night.

Riverdale falls to 12-9, 8-4 and into a tie for second place in the subregion with its arch-rival North Clayton (11-9, 8-4), which won against last-place Upson-Lee (7-10, 4-7) Tuesday night.

Spalding started Tuesday’s game against Riverdale on fire, scoring the first three baskets to take a 6-0 lead. They cooled off a bit later in the quarter and went into the second leading only 13-11. The floodgates for Spalding opened midway through the second quarter. Jags guard/forward Terence Brittian slashed to the hole and made his free throws and Spalding took control, rolling to a 28-17 lead with 2:10 left in the period and Markee Dickerson sank two 3-pointers to give the Jags a 33-22 halftime lead.

The Jags also did a good job holding down Riverdale forward/center Quincy January, who torched the Jags for 33 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks on Jan. 4 at Riverdale. January only had 8 of his team-high 15 points at the half.

Spalding blew the Raiders out of the gym in the third, moving the ball crisply and getting great looks from the inside and outside. As the quarter wound down, Spalding led by as many as 19 points — 49-30 — to the delight of the home crowd. The Jags led 54-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

Riverdale turned up the pressure in the final stanza and Spalding didn’t execute as well on offense as it did in the first three quarters, allowing the Raiders to cut the deficit. January got a fast-break dunk and Omar Touray made a nice jumper to cut the Jags’ lead to 60-51 with 2:00 remaining. But Spalding’s Xeryous Dewberry made a fast-break layup to make it 62-51 with less than a minute remaining and the Jags held on from there.

“We’ve got to execute better down the stretch. It all comes down to making the right plays when the pressure’s on us,” said Jags head coach Kemo Spear.

Brittian led Spalding with 16 points, Phillip Goodrum added 12 and Dickerson chipped in 9 (3 of 6 from behind the arc). Spalding travels to face Jonesboro Friday at 7:30 p.m. before a Saturday home matchup with Griffin at 7:30 p.m.

SPALDING BOYS

Date |Opponent |Time/Score

11/24 |Jackson |W 58-44

11/27 |L. GROVE* |W 69-28

12/1 |WALTON |L 88-78

12/4 |E. Landing* |L 60-38

12/7 |WOODLAND* |W 57-51

12/11 |DUTCHTOWN* |W 75-64

12/14 |Walton |W 69-62

12/22 |Newnan |L 74-53

12/27 |vs. Taylor Co. |L 81-71

12/29 |vs. Marion Co.|W 64-58

1/4 |Riverdale* |L 74-59

1/8 |JONESBORO* |L 70-68

1/11 |Griffin* |L 53-48

1/12 |Stockbridge* |L 64-54

1/15 |N. Clayton* |W 82-73

1/18 |UPSON-LEE* |L 79-76 OT

1/22 |RIVERDALE* |W 66-54

1/25 |Jonesboro* |7:30

1/26 |GRIFFIN* |7:30

2/1 |N. CLAYTON* |7:30

2/5 |Upson-Lee* |7:30