By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

TYRONE – The LaGrange Grangers held the halftime lead as they looked to complete a regular-season sweep of the Sandy Creek Patriots.

The home-standing Patriots overwhelmed the Grangers in the second half, though, and they ran away with an 85-63 victory in the Region 5-AAAA game on Saturday.

LaGrange is still in good shape in the region, though, since it holds a one-game lead over Cartersville and Sandy Creek.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Grangers (20-3) are 9-1 in the region, and if they beat Chapel Hill and Cartersville this week, they’ll be the number one seed for the region tournament.

If the Grangers lose one of those games, they could end up seeded as low as third, meaning they’d have to win a play-in game to make it to the semifinals.

In the first half of Saturday’s game, LaGrange ran step-for-step with Sandy Creek.

The Grangers led 14-12 after the first quarter, and they were ahead 34-32 at the half.

In the third period, the Patriots took over.

The Grangers were unable to handle the Patriots’ pressure defense, and they were outscored 28-13 in the third quarter.

Sandy Creek continued to pull away in the fourth quarter.

LaPerion Perry and Bryan Fanning each scored 15 points for LaGrange, and Kenan Gray had 10 points.

KJ Wilkins led Sandy Creek with 22 points, and he had 18 points in the second half.

In Saturday’s girls’ game, it was region-leading Sandy Creek capturing a 53-42 victory.

Aryan Dozier, who has been on a scoring tear of late, led LaGrange with 19 points, and Shania Woodard scored 13 points.

LaGrange (12-10 overall) is 6-4 in the region, and it is tied with Troup with two games to play.

LaGrange’s teams host Chapel Hill on Tuesday before closing the regular season at Cartersville on Thursday.