MOULTRIE – When you can’t contain a scoring threat like Quentin Dopson, it’s going to be a long night on the basketball court (actually, it was very short, way less than three hours for a high school doubleheader).

Dopson carried the first-quarter load in point production for the Colquitt County High Packers Tuesday and finished with a season-high 17 points on William Bryant Court. To start a five-game home stand to conclude the 2016-17 regular season, Colquitt County also got 16 points from Tyrese King in defeating non-region rival Thomas County-Central 65-46.

That sent the record for Andy Harden’s club to 16-4. The Packers now prepare for Region 1-7A home games on consecutive nights, Friday vs. Tift County and Saturday vs. Camden County, and try to improve their 1-2 showing in the league standings.

The usual high-point honors go to guard Cam Singletary, but with hot hands from two teammates he was able to get by with 13 points. Forward DaNas Andrews had eight points.

Dopson, a forward, wasn’t just grabbing the basketball at will; he was the target of set passes from the rest of the Packers on the floor. Andrews did a jump pass to find Dopson, who converted the high-low and successfully completed a three-point play. After putting back 2 on the offensive glass, Dopson received a lob inside from Singletary, and basically the basketball game was Dopson 9, Thomas County-Central 4.

But the visiting Yellow Jackets went on a 6-0 run which included a 3-pointer from about three steps beyond the arc. They led for the first time at 3:25 of the first quarter, but Andrews got the lead back for Colquitt finding a loose basketball (from Yellow Jacket miscommunication) and running it to the other end.

Down 13-11, the Packers ended the quarter on a 6-0 spurt with Dopson contributing in other ways. He found King down low to tie the game, and he made a steal before the final basket. Also, Andrews converted Singletary’s inbound pass to take things into the second quarter at 17-13.

King had two steals in the opening period. Things see-sawed in the second quarter – the Packer advantage going from seven to three points – with King’s 3-pointer being the only make around several bad misses from the floor. The Yellow Jackets ran the floor from a defensive board and got within a trey, 25-22, with 2:09 to go before the break.

Back-up guard Nizarre Thompson, after seeing two straight shots blocked, stuck in 3 at 1:45. Dopson returned to the scoring race with an offensive rebound bucket, and Jy Andrews came up with a midcourt steal after TC-C’s late timeout. With that, Colquitt County raced into halftime ahead 30-22.

In the third quarter, Harden’s group pulled away going on a 10-2 run. King used a high ball screen from D. Andrews to hit from 3, and he added to both his steals and points total on the same play. Dopson later put in his third stick-back of the game, but that was after making good another assist for D. Andrews.

The Yellow Jackets hit a pair of 3-pointers, but only got as close as 10 in the third. The visitors turned the ball over with a chance to get it under double figures at 1:12. Singletary dribble-drove for 2 and King hit a floater in the lane. Going into the fourth, it was 52-40 Packers.

Singletary had three steals in the final period plus a laser assist to King in the paint in a 9-2 run.

LADY PACKERS’ VICTORY

Diamond Hall … if there’s a statistical category in basketball, she seemed to be the leader for Colquitt County’s Lady Packers on many nights during 2016-17. Tuesday was no different.

But she wasn’t the leading scorer. That was Za’Nautica Downs with 19 points. Still, Hall added 15 points and completed one more double-double with 12 rebounds. She also had six steals, four assists and blocked three shots as Colquitt County and Rondesha Williams toppled Thomas County-Central 58-24 at home.

The girls team is 16-4 for the season and has those same two big Region 1-7A home contests this weekend with Tift County and Camden County. On Friday, it’s a chance to even the season series with the Lady Blue Devils, who won the first meeting two weeks ago in overtime drama in Tifton. It’s Colquitt’s only region loss so far against two wins.

Williams’ group took care of the non-region business Tuesday never looking back from an opening 9-0 run. Point guard Akia Sutton banked home her first jump-shot attempt, and it was Tionna Hunt getting involved in the scoring from the offensive boards.

Rebounding numbers overall may have favored the Lady Yellow Jackets however as they got on the board for the first time on a fifth-chance shot. Downs needed some time to find her shooting touch, and she did with two shots worth five points.

Hall had three first-quarter steals and blocked a shot as TC-C tried penetrating the half-court zone. Going into the second, the Lady Packers led 15-4.

Downs began the new quarter with a nice slap assist from the baseline to Tim’mya Sanders inside. The margin extended to 18 points, 23-5, as Downs beat the half-court press and Hall found 2 on the offensive boards.

Four of the last nine points in the half for the Lady Yellow Jackets came on second shots. Five of the Lady Packers combined to make a total of seven steals in this one quarter, two coming from Sutton and two from Hall. It was Hall’s theft and assist to Downs with 15 seconds on the clock that ended Colquitt’s scoring for the half, the lead being 27-14.

While Downs put in an immediate 3-ball in the third period, TC-C didn’t score until 4:08, and it was one more put-back. When the Lady Yellow Jackets couldn’t take advantage of a press takeaway, Downs ran the floor and put her club up by 19, 37-18. At 1:57, she threw a bullet assist to Sutton to get her a three-point play and seven points for the night.

Leading 40-18 as the final quarter began, the Lady Packers looked to even out the second-chance scoring totals.

Hunt had two put-backs to give her six points and six boards for the game, and Hall had two plus three of her assists to Eriyona Stokes, Kiarra Lovett and Sanders.