MOULTRIE — At halftime of his season-opener against Worth County on Tuesday at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium, Colquitt County boys coach Kirven Davis said that even though his team led by 12, he wanted to see his team play a complete game.

Davis did not get the complete game he wanted, but the Packers did open with a victory, defeating the Rams 63-56.

The Lady Packers started the sweep of the visitors from Sylvester, scoring the last four points of the game to get a 52-49 victory.

Colquitt’s boys had not played since falling 70-56 to Cairo in its scrimmage on Nov. 14.

But the Packers led 17-12 at the end of the first quarter, 35-23 at the half and 49-35 heading into the final quarter.

But after building a 51-35 lead on a pair of Eugene Woods free throws 49 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Packers struggled to contain the Rams.

Worth cut the Packers lead to four at 60-56 on a basket by Xavier Lawson with 16 seconds left, but got no closer.

Nolan Whyte hit a free throw with 13.8 seconds left and Channing Hudson hit two more with 3.3 seconds remaining to give the Packers the victory.

“I felt it coming,” said Davis of his team’s second half struggles. “But it was the first game and you’re going to have some rust.

“And anytime you get a win, it’s good.”

Worth County coach Andy Harden, a former Packers assistant, was pleased with his team’s performance.

“The kids played hard,” Harden said. “I thought Colquitt shot it great.

“But we made a run. We didn’t quit. I’m proud of the kids.”

Worth County’s Jerome Blackman led all scorers with 15 points.

The Packers were led by Andrew Wallace who had 12 points on six baskets, two of which came on successive possessions in the fourth quarter after the Rams had pulled to within six.

Ryshawn Melvin added 11; Hudson and Duke Banks each had nine; Woods had seven; Whyte added five; Orion Ponder and Dannie Hunt each had four; and Chantting Stevenson had a basket.

The Packers hit 9-of-14 from the free throw line.

Hunt led the Packers on the boards with nine rebounds.

The Lady Packers trailed by three at the end of the first quarter and by two at half and at the end of three quarters.

But a three-point play by Taquella Coates tied the game at 49 with 2:09 left and with 50 seconds remaining, Nikki Hudson hit a free throw to give the Lady Packers their first lead of the final quarter.

Coates iced the victory with a basket with 26 seconds left.

“That was big,” said Lady Packers coach Joe Parker, whose team raised its record to 3-0. “And that’s because (the Lady Rams) are well-coached.

“They know what to do on offense and they know what to do on defense. But on our last three or four possessions, we did what we needed to do.”

The Lady Packers lost twice to Worth last year and Parker said he told his team it would have to make some shots to beat the Lady Rams on Tuesday.

And Colquitt got a big offensive night from sophomore Nicolle Thomas, who had a game-high 16 points, including 11 in the third quarter.

Thomas also came up with four fourth-quarter rebounds.

Coates had 11; Laquita Smith added 10; Hudson had five; Shay Lovett and Ashley Patillo each had four and Tiffany Troupe added two free throws.

Logan Youngblood led Worth County with 13 points.

In the junior varsity boys game, Colquitt County won its season-opener 39-36 over Worth County.

Brian Berl led the junior varsity Packers with 12 points. Matt Cannon added six; Jared Sutton had five; Rashad Edmonds, Jamiel Tyson and Trendon Jones each had four; and Dominique Hadley added two points.

Colquitt County will be off until Saturday, Dec. 9, when the Packers and Lady Packers travel to Sylvester for a rematch with Worth County.