Marquis Williams and Antroine Williford combined for 34 points Wednesday night at the Decatur County Memorial Coliseum to lead the Bainbridge High School Bearcats to a convincing 74-51 victory over the East Gadsden High School Jaguars from Quincy, the fourth-rated Class AAAA team in Florida.

Williams led the way with a game-high 18 points, and Williford put in 16. James Lodman was also in double figures with 11.

Kevin Derrico led the Jaguars with 17. Leonardo Delaney was also in double figures for the visitors with 11.

Lodman hit a three-point jumper from the right side just 50 seconds into the game to put the Bearcats up 3-0 and they never trailed.

The Jaguars’ Harrison Gibson hit free throws at the 6:48 and 5:38 marks to cut it to 3-2, but the Bearcats’ Eric Vickers countered with a three-point jumper from the left side at the 5:38 mark to push the lead out to 6-2.

Vickers’ bucket ignited a 6-0 scoring run that put the Bearcats up by eight. Williams made it 8-2 with a layup off the right glass at the 5:03 mark, and Melzie Johnson, who finished with 8 points, made it 10-2 with a layup off the right glass at the 4:21 mark.

The Bearcats were ahead by nine, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter. They led 37-25 at halftime.

They opened the third quarter hot, scoring the first six points, to take a commanding 43-25 lead. First Williford hit two free throws at the 6:59 mark, then Lodman hit a layup off the right glass at the 6:40 mark and two free throws at the 6:19 mark.

Leading by 15, 47-32, with 3:22 left, the Bearcats scored the last seven points of the quarter to take a 54-32 lead into the fourth quarter.

The points came on a jumper from the head of the key by TeRandy Colston at the 3:22 mark, a layup off the left glass by John Taylor at the 2:43 mark, a layup off the right glass by Johnson at the 2:13 mark and a free throw by Taylor at the 44-second mark.

After the game, Bearcats head coach Rickey McCullough said he thought his defense played a lot better.

“I though we came out and executed better offensively and defensively,” he said.