TIFTON — It is not often a Colquitt County boys basketball team qualifies for the state tournament.

But the 2005-2006 Packers will go after knocking off Coffee High 57-51 in overtime on Friday at the Tift County High Arena in the first round of the Region 1-AAAAA tournament.

The Lady Packers immediately followed suit, defeating Valdosta 54-45.

Both teams are now guaranteed two more region tournament games in which to improve their state tournament seeding.

The Packers will meet top-seeded Tift County in its home gymnasium at 8:30 tonight.

The Lady Packers will meet No. 2 seed Lowndes at 4 p.m. today.

Victories in those games would send the Colquitt teams to the Saturday region championship games and guarantee a first-round home state tournament game.

A loss tonight means playing in the consolation games early Saturday to determine third and fourth place.

Colquitt’s boys had lost to Coffee 73-53 just 10 days ago in a game that sealed their No. 5 seeding in the tournament. Colquitt had also defeated the Trojans earlier in the year.

But despite trailing much of the first three quarters, the Packers tied the game three times in the final five minutes of regulation, the last time on a short running jumper off the glass by Orion Ponder with 1:48 remaining, knotting the game at 49-49.

That’s where it remained when Coffee missed two shot just before the buzzer.

Coffee jumped out to a lead on a pair of free throws by Mario Bennett with 2:22 left in the overtime.

But the Trojans never scored again.

Antwan Tuff tied the game with a jumper and then Ponder went to work from the free throw line.

The junior point guard, who finished with a season-high 16 points, hit two free throws with 1:04 remaining to put the Packers up 52-51.

After teammate James Trimble blocked a Coffee shot at the other end, Ponder was fouled again and hit another free throw with 46 seconds left to put the Packers up by three.

Antwan Tuff added a free throw with 11 seconds left to extend the Packers lead to four and Ponder sealed it with two more from the foul line with one second remaining.

With the victory, the Packer raise their record to 13-12 overall. Coffee ends its season with a 15-11 record.

Packers coach Kirven Davis, who takes his team to the state tournament in his first season in Moultrie, credited strong defense “and knocking those free throws down” for the victory.

“My hat’s off to Coffee,” Davis said. “They played well. But this is a big win for the Packers. Maybe this is the corner we’ve been talking about turning all season.”

Davis was especially pleased with the way Ponder handled the free throw pressure down the stretch. He said Ponder had a similar opportunity in a game earlier this season, but missed the free throws.

“I told him he’d get another opportunity and he did,” Davis said.

Tuff led the Packers with 17 points. Jeremy DeBruce had nine; Trimble had six points and 12 rebounds; Duke Banks came off the bench to score four important points; Rashawn Melvin had a big 3-pointer; and Andrew Wallace had two points.

Colquitt County’s girls had defeated Valdosta by 23 and 32 points in their two previous meetings this season, but the No. 6-seeded Lady Cats would not go away on Thursday.

The Lady Packers led by 12 when Nikki Hudson scored a basket just 12 seconds into the second half, but four minutes later Valdosta had cut the lead back to four.

The Lady Packers led by as many as 13 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Lady Wildcats continued to scrap and cut Colquitt’s lead down to seven with 39 seconds remaining.

Colquitt had three players in double-figures, led by Laquita Smith, who came off the bench to score 11 points.

Dorothy Strong and Ashley Stafford each had 10. Hudson had eight, Taquella Coates had seven, Nicolle Thomas had five, Jessica Lemus had two and Tiffany Troupe had a free throw.

Valdosta finishes 9-14 and 0-11 in region games.

The Lady Packers split their two meeting with Lowndes during the regular season.

Houston County eliminated Coffee’s girls 44-41 in Thursday’s first game. The Lady Bears will meet top-seeded Tift County at 7 tonight.