By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

It was a suspense-free night for the LaGrange Grangers.

After a thrilling one-point win over McIntosh on Wednesday, LaGrange was back at home a day later to play Stone Mountain in the LaGrange Toyota Basketball Classic.

Stone Mountain hung in there for a while and was within three early in the second quarter, but LaGrange took charge from there and rolled to a 72-41 victory.

“We obviously came out incredibly flat tonight,” LaGrange head coach Mark Veal said. “Luckily we got some momentum rolling for us in the second quarter.”

LaGrange (8-4) will play Harris County today at 7:30 p.m. in the final game of the LaGrange Toyota Basketball Classic before turning its attention to Region 5-AAAA play next week.

Junior post player Marquis Cox had a big night for the Grangers with 20 points, and 16 of those points came in the fourth quarter.

Bo Russell, who had 29 points in the win over McIntosh, was next for LaGrange with 19 points.

Jay Benton added 11 points, and Daz Williams made three 3-pointers and scored nine points.

Eight different LaGrange players scored, and all 11 eligible players got some time on the court.

With Russell scoring 10 points, LaGrange had a 15-9 lead after the first quarter.

The Grangers had a difficult time finding their offense in the second quarter.

It was nearly five minutes into the second quarter before the Grangers scored their first points on a basket by Covan Huzzie.

LaGrange was clinging to a two-point lead when Williams made a 3-pointer to push the lead to 20-15.

The Grangers took off from there, and they finished the first half on a 16-1 run to build a 33-16 lead.

Williams hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to push the lead to 20, and the Grangers were ahead 53-25 by the time the final period began.

In the fourth quarter, Cox took over, scoring 16 points while making six shots from the field and all four of his field-goal attempts.

Freshman Malik Hall also got into the act with a 3-pointer late in the game, and he received a nice ovation from his teammates on the bench.