MOULTRIE — Colquitt County boys basketball coach Kirven Davis turned to some of church upbringing when discussing his team’s state tournament game with Redan, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. today at the Stone Mountain school.

The Packers first-year coach paraphrased Genesis 22:13 when he said he was hoping for a “ram in the bush”: something or someone unexpected to come through for his team tonight when it meets the Raiders, the No. 2 team from Region 2-AAAAA, in the first-round game.

The Packers are making their first appearance in the state tournament since 2002 and just the fourth since Moultrie High last won a game at the state level in 1953.

Colquitt’s boys won two of three games in the Region 1-AAAAA tournament in Tifton to take the No. 3 seed, sending the 14-13 Packers to meet No. 2 team from Region 2-AAAAA.

Redan lost to Tri-Cities 69-58 in the Region 2-AAAAA tournament championship game, but has outstanding 6-foot-5 Sylvester Egby, who both scores and rebounds in double-figures.

A senior, Egby averages 16.6 poitns and 11.0 rebounds a game and is hitting 60 percent from the field.

The Raiders top 3-point shooter is Jabari DeShields, who was 24-for-57 from beyond the arc this season.

Cedric Dixon is averaging 6.4 rebounds and Robert Murray is outstanding from the free throw line, hitting 63-of-85.

“I hear they’re pretty athletic,” Davis said. “But there are a lot of teams, like Lowndes, Tifton, Coffee, Houston County, that fit that description in this region. We’ve seen that style of play.”

Playing at the Redan gymnasium will be no picnic, but Davis said his team has played in partisan venues a number of times this season.

“It will be a hostile environment,” Davis said. “But the Christmas tournament (in Albany) and playing in Tifton have got us ready for that.”

Davis said he expects the Raiders to play a 2-3 zone and hopes shooters such as Antwan Tuff and Rashawn Melvin can take advantage to score from long-range.

Tuff, the Packers leading scorer and leading 3-point shooter, will start in the backcourt with with fellow senior Jeremy DeBruce and junior point guard Orion Ponder.

In the front court will be 6-foot-3 center James Trimble and 6-foot-5 forward Andrew Wallace.

Trimble, a second-team All-Region 1-AAAAA selection, is coming off an outstanding region tournament in which he scored a season-high 22 points in the victory over Lowndes.

The Packers get strong bench support from Melvin, Amar Parikh, Ronald Wilson, Duke Banks, Danny Hunt and Kamari Peterson.

Davis would especially like a big tournament from Wallace.

“We need Andrew to step up,” Davis said. “I’ve got some high expectations for him. We need Wallace, Tuff and Trimble to come through for us.”

Davis is used to postseason competition, having gone to the state tournament the last five seasons as an assistant at Westover High. But it will be a new experience for the Packers.

“The body language is different,” Davis said of state tournament. “I just have to re-inforce things they have to work on and have to do to get prepared.

The Packers will leave between 10-10:30 this morning. Davis said Principal Bob Jones has worked closely with him to make sure “we can go up there to win, not hoping to win.”

“We’ve had spirited practices this week,” Davis said. “We don’t want to go up there just hoping to win. If we just believe in the system, the rest will take care of itself.”

The Colquitt County-Redan winner will meet the Newnan-Groves winner at 5:30 p.m. next Friday at the Macon Centreplex.

Also today, Lowndes will travel to meet Region 2-AAAAA champion Tri-Cities, Houston County will play host to Lithonia and Tift County will entertain Douglass.