COVINGTON, Ga. — The Newton Rams cruised to a 74-40 win over Lowndes in its opening game of the Class AAAAAAA state playoffs on Wednesday. By the time the game was in the third quarter, the contest was out of reach.

Offensively, almost everyone on the Rams squad got involved.

 Getting multiple players in on the scoring is something that Rams' head coach Barry Browner viewed as one of the team's biggest strengths.

“[It was] just making sure the ball doesn’t stick — make sure we get everyone involved and get guys going," Browner said. "Once they do that, it is hard [to stop] because we have so many guys that can put the ball in the bucket. You never know who’s night it is going to be.”

In the opening minutes, the night belonged to Tay Jefferies.

The senior knocked down a pair of three pointers on his way to a nine-point first quarter.

For Lowndes, it became a struggle to hit shots consistently as the Vikings failed to match Newton’s scoring.

By the end of the opening frame, the Vikings trailed 17-7 to the Rams.

The second quarter saw Newton continue to push the pedal down as it increased its lead going into halftime.

One theme that lasted throughout the contest was Newton’s ability to score from all levels of the floor.

The size and shooting ability of the Rams allowed them to punish the Vikings from the paint and the perimeter.

Despite a late three from the Vikings, the Rams went into the intermission with a 32-18 advantage.

The third quarter proved to be the decider, as Newton ripped off 25 points to give itself a sizable lead for the remainder of the round one contest.

The Rams’ 25 points came from Jefferies, Tim Prather, Zack Harden and Jabez Jenkins. 

With a big lead, the Rams were able to give multiple bench players time on the court in the final frame.

In the last minute, a three pointer from Bryce Jackson sent Newton into the next round with a 74-40 win.

Offensively, the Rams were led by Jefferies with 16 points and Jenkins with 12 points.

Despite the 34-point victory, Browner mentioned a few areas where he wants to see his team improve in if they want to advance another round.

“We have to get better at rebounding the basketball and limiting our turnovers just a little bit,” Browner said. “We started out the first half 3-for-12 from the three point line, we just need to tune that up.”

The Rams will enter the second round of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs on the road against the McEachern Indians(23-5) on Saturday, Feb 24.