The Bainbridge High School Bearcats and Albany’s Westover High School Patriots met for the Region 1-AAAA championship Friday at 8:30 p.m.

The Bearcats defeated Crisp County High School 75-48 in the first round of the region tournament Tuesday.

The Bearcats featured a balanced attack against Crisp County that included four men in double figures. Tyree Crump led the way with 17 points, Trevon Shaw added 14, Myles Thomas put in 12 and Devontae Jones had 10.

Rounding out the Bearcats scoring column were Devonte Williams with nine, Jaquez Brenton with four, Jordan Davis and Milton Gayle with three apiece and Jeremy Freeman with one.

The Bearcats took command early, jumping out to a 19-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. They outscored the Cougars 14-13 in the second quarter to take a 33-23 lead at halftime. In the third quarter they continued to pull away outscoring the Cougars 17-11 to take a 50-34 leading entering the fourth quarter. They then scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and held the Cougars to just 14 to put the game away.

“The win over Crisp County was the result of a great team effort,” Bearcats Head Coach Rickey McCullough said. “Every one contributed. Looking at the balanced scoring, it is obvious that we shot well, but we also played solid defense. Our pressure defense made it difficult for Crisp County to get good looks at the basket.”

The Bearcats earned their birth in the title game with an 80-59 victory over the Worth County High School Rams on Thursday.

In their big Thursday win over Worth County, the Bearcats had four different players score in double figures.

Tyree Crump led the way with 29 points. He was followed by Devontae Jones with 12, Divanta Williams with 11 and Myles Thomas with 10.

Also contributing to the winning scoring effort were Melton Gayle with nine, Trevon Shaw with six, Jaquez Brenton with two and Malek Lury with one.

The Bearcats and Patriots, as the top two finishers in the region tournament, will both advance to the first round of the State Class AAAA Tournament next Wednesday. The Bearcats will host a yet to be determined opponent.

Bearcats’ Coach McCullough said he was very pleased with his teams’ effort in their big win over Worth County.

“On Thursday we got balanced scoring and played strong defense,” McCullough said. “When you do that you are going to win a lot of games.”