The LaGrange Grangers used an explosive third quarter that included a pair of dunks and a man-to-man press to overwhelm visiting Sandy Creek on Tuesday 55-31 in a Region 5-AAAA matchup.

The win gives the Grangers a 12-3 overall record and they are now 3-1 in the region.

Sandy Creek played a respectable first half against LaGrange, which led the game almost the entire way.

The Grangers were up 12-7 after the first quarter and then went up 23-13 at the break.

By the time the third quarter rolled around, the senior-laden Grangers were done toying with the Patriots, scoring 23 points in the quarter and allowing only seven for Sandy Creek.

The game only took an hour and five minutes to complete and that included the 10 minutes at halftime.

Both teams were only whistled for one foul each in the third quarter as the Grangers ran the fast break at will.

“Sandy Creek has a young basketball team,” LaGrange coach Mike Pauley said after the game. “They have very few seniors contributing right now. They’re mostly underclassmen, so they’re building for the future. We’re playing 10 seniors. That should make a difference and I thought tonight it did.”

It was the Granger seniors who took over in the game, including Justyn Olson, who led the team with 16 points including two 3-pointers.

Olson fired in a trey at the buzzer to end the first half that seemed to set the tone for the second half.

Olson then nailed his second trey early in the third quarter before a pair of monster dunks by Kwame Brown and Don Leak that seemed to deflate the Patriots’ spirit while the Grangers ran wild on the floor the remainder of the third quarter.

“The main thing we talked about at halftime was making sure they were unselfish, that they were really moving the ball, don’t hold the ball, find the next player and try to play faster,” Pauley added. “We also stopped zone pressing and we went man pressing and we did some rotations off our man press and the guys did a good job of that.”

Pauley sat his starters shortly after the fourth quarter began and emptied the bench giving his subs nearly seven minutes of action.

Early on, post player Joe Sanders helped to pace the Granger attack, and the senior added 12 points to the night’s total.

The Grangers' next outing will be on Friday when they play at crosstown rival Troup.