On Saturday, Jan.18, the Pickens Dragons (16-5, 6-3 Region 6-4A) welcomed the Pepperell Dragons (7-11, 4-6 Region 7-AA) to the Dragons’ Den in a non-region contest. After an up-and-down battle throughout, the Dragons of Pickens came away with the 70-60 win.

In the first quarter, it was the away team that got off to the quick start. Pepperell started the game on a 6-0 run. The run was stalled by a Noah Sutton free throw. Pepperell then went on a 5-0 run before a Luke Rogers free throw made it 11-2. Sutton would finally give the Dragons their first field goal of the game to make it 12-4. Later on in the quarter, Pickens got going and cut the Pepperell lead down to 17-15. Pepperell made a pair of free throws to close the first with a 19-15 lead.

Owen Moss looking for open space

In the second quarter, Pickens used a 6-0 run, with help from free throws from Aidan Sanchez and Hays Pickett, and a layup from Tucker Lowe, to take their first lead of the game, 21-19. That lead was short lived as Pepperell came down and hit a 3-pointer to reclaim the lead at 22-21. The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth for a bit until Pickens took over with an 11-0 run, getting buckets from Zac Tetterton, Owen Moss, and Sutton, to take 37-26 lead. After Pepperell cut it to seven, Lowe nailed a 3-pointer to give the Dragons a 44-34 lead going into halftime.

Pickens defending Pepperell

The second half as a whole was very closely played by both teams. In the third quarter Pickens held an 18-point lead at one time. Pepperell was able to cut that lead down to 58-48 going to the fourth.

Pickens working the ball around on offense in the second half

In the fourth quarter, Pepperell cut the Pickens lead down to 60-54. After that, Pickens went on a big 9-0 run featuring back-to-back 3-pointers by Moss and Lowe, and a layup with a free throw by Sutton to make it 69-54. The Dragons of Pickens grabbed some much-needed momentum heading into next week with a 70-60 win.

Leading the way for the Dragons were:

Noah Sutton: 20 points

Tucker Lowe: 17 points

Owen Moss: 17 points

Luke Rogers: five points

Will Roland: three points

Zac Tetterton: three points

Hays Pickett: two points

Aidan Sanchez: two points

The next 10 days are important for the Dragons as they take on three-straight region opponents to end the regular season. Pickens starts things off against Gilmer on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Jasper to close out their home regular-season schedule. The Dragons end the regular season by visiting Northwest Whitfield at 8:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 24, and then traveling to Dalton to take on Southeast Whitfield Co. at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 28.