By DJ Moore
WINDER, Ga. — The Eastside Eagles defeated the Heritage Patriots 76-60 to claim third place in Region 8-AAAAA at Winder Barrow High School on Friday evening.
Head coach Dorrian Randolph pointed to the shooting ability of senior guard Kassen Saunders as the difference maker.
“Everybody knows he’s a shooter and he showed that he is one of the best in the state, head coach Dorrian Randolph said. “The games that we lost are the games that he didn’t shoot well and we as a team were glad to see him take the game over.”
Saunders led the team with 27 points and hit six three-pointers to lead both teams in shooting from deep.
Senior forward Saabir Berrian also added nine points to the team efforts. Berrian added to his contributions collecting a few key defensive rebounds.
When the Eagles starters left the court for a breather, the bench contributed as junior guard Trebor Edwards scored 19 points and sophomore guard Jayvon Johnson added four points.
“[Trebor] finally had the performance that we know he can have," Randolph said. “There was no perfect time for him to show up in a big game this late in the season. Even though he is an 11th grader, we also hope he can build off of this.”
The Eagles’ defense added pressure to Heritage’s freshman guard Bobby Buggs. Buggs was in foul trouble for most of the night and he finished the game with 17 points. Buggs also received a technical foul late in the game. Buggs was guarded by the trio of Bo Reed, Ashton Washington and Marion Eubanks.
“In the scouting report, we knew that it would be best to send multiple people to him,” Randolph said.
The Eagles opened the game up on a 12-3 with multiple defensive stops and they never trailed in the game as they led by as much as 14 points. The Eagles will turn their focus towards the 2023 Class AAAAA playoffs as they will be on the road.
Eastside (21-6, 9-3 in region play) will face the winner between Calhoun (14-11, 6-4 in region) and Hiram (22-2, 10-0 in region) in the Region 7-AAAAA championship game.
Coach Randolph hopes that his team can keep their momentum heading into either matchup.
“Heading into the playoffs, the coaching staff expects us to keep hitting shots and making layups which we did a great job at that tonight,” Randolph said. “Regardless we are going to see either Hiram or Calhoun who opposed different problems. Hiram has great guard play while Calhoun has height.
“We will have our work cut out for us.”
