Brookwood routs Tiftarea in first round of region tournament

THOMASVILLE – One down, two to go for the Brookwood boys basketball team.

The Warriors opened the GIAA Region 3-AAA tournament on Monday by thumping the Tiftarea Panthers 68-23. Brookwood (21-6) will advance to the semifinal round where it will play Deerfield-Windsor on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Georgia Southwestern University in Americus.

Brookwood basketball coach Nate VanDuyne was happy to see his team continue its strong play.

“There’s something to it, at all levels, whether it be college, pro, high school, sometimes that bye seems to mess with you. It seems like you get to this point in the year and it’s just about continuity and developing that rhythm,” VanDuyne said. “There’s a part of me who thinks that when you have similar talent to what the rest of the teams have, I would take the continuity as long as you don’t get injured, over the rest. It was a big deal for us to continue playing last night but also to play as well as what we did.”

The Warriors surged to a 51-11 lead at halftime, led by Chris May’s 24 points, including four 3s in the opening quarter. Walker Jackson and Rodge Waldrop each added eight points, while Levi Williams chipped in six, and Will Stevens finished with five.

Brookwood’s reward for its first round rout is a third matchup with region rival Deerfield-Windsor. The teams split their two regular season games, including Brookwood’s 51-46 win on Jan. 31. Brookwood has won eight of its last nine games, dating back to its loss at Deerfield on Jan. 17.

“I think the week that we played Deerfield and Southland at their place, we just got smoked by both of them. That was the turning point in the season where we came back and we beat Valwood at home. We just took off,” VanDuyne said. “This was like a three-week transformation. We just totally changed. The crazy part is we didn’t change anything. We just did everything that we do better.

“It’s been a really fun past month as we have gotten to where we are currently.”