Alexander Boys Follow Two Close Losses with Blowout Win

Deandre Harper scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds as escaped the Lake City Classic at Allatoona High School with a 53-28 win over Johnson County, Tennessee, Thursday.

Alexander aimed its defensive focus on Johnson County's Jason Steele, who is averaging over 25 points per game this season. They held him to 15 points, and no other Johnson County player had more than four.

Despite the solid results, Alexander head coach David Cottrell found some flaws in the Cougars' performance.

"We've got to have better help team defense and I didn't think in the first half we did that very well," Cottrell said. "We could have taken some charges and we didn't."

"I thought in the first half we didn't really play well," he added. "The first half we kind of sleep-walked through it, but the second half we picked it up and did some good things."

The Cougars led 26-14 at halftime. They then got what ultimately proved to be all the points they needed when Karim Mawunyega hit a short jumper to give them a 30-18 lead with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. That basket was the start of a 23-4 Alexander run that relegated the game to laugher status.

The blowout victory came in the Cougars' final game of the tournament, after they suffered a pair of one-possession losses in their first two games against Hillgrove and Mays.

"Those first two games were close games against good, athletic teams. I told our coaches that those seemed like state-tournament type games where it's kind of a grind it out situation," Cottrell said. "You know that each team has scouted each other. There are good athletes on the floor. Both teams play good defense. It's hard to score. So we got a little feel of what those types of games are going to be like."

Alexander will host South Paulding on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.