The Bainbridge High School Bearcats defeated the Lee County High School Trojans 75-59 Wednesday night in Leesburg to nail down the regular season Region 1-AAAAA championship.
The Bearcats and the Northside Columbus High School Patriots ended the regular season with identical Region 1-AAAAA records, so the regular season Region 1-AAAAA champion had to be determined by tiebreakers.
The athletic directors and coaches from both schools met Tuesday at Black Beards Restaurant in Albany to decide how to break a possible tie for first and second place.
Bearcats coach Rickey McCullough explained that the first tiebreaker was head to head play. The first tie breaker was scoring difference. Since the Patriots defeated the Bearcats by 9 points in Bainbridge and the Bearcats defeated the Patriots by 9 points in Columbus it goes onto the next tie breaker.
The third tiebreaker was records against Class AAAAA teams from other Regions in Georgia. Since neither team had played one, the decision went to the fourth tiebreaker, which was a coin flip.
“I called tails and that’s the way the coin landed,” McCullough said. “As the first and second seeds in the Region 1-AAAAA tournament, which will be Friday, Feb. 14, and Saturday, Feb. 15, in our gymnasium, us and Northside Columbus will both draw a first round tournament bye.”
The Bearcats, 16-8 overall, will conclude their regular season this weekend with a pair of non-Region 1-AAAAA games. They will meet the Cairo High School Syrupmakers Friday in Cairo and take on the Seminole County High School Indians Saturday in Donalsonville.
Wednesday’s Region 1-AAAAA game with Lee County’s Trojans was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 28, but was postponed and rescheduled because of cold weather.
Bearcat Tyree Crump took game scoring honors for the Bearcats Wednesday with 32 points. Also in double figures for the Bearcats were Devontae Jones with 14 points and Stephen Johnson with 11 points.