Jasper, Ga — After picking up wins over Copper Basin and Fannin in the annual ETC Thanksgiving Tournament last week, the Pickens Dragons came back home to the Dragons Den and the newly named Roy Cowart Court as they welcomed the North Murray Mountaineers for a non-region game. Oddly enough, with the recent re-classifications, these two schools will be in the same region (6-AAA) starting with the 2022 school year. This game, while relatively low scoring, saw plenty of back and forth action. In the end, it would be the Mountaineers coming away with a 44-39 victory.

In the first quarter, North Murray jumped out early with a quick bucket. From then on, it was the Jaden Stewart show as he went on a personal 8-0 run that included two three pointers to give the Dragons an 8-2 lead over the Mountaineers going to the second quarter.

Dragons moving the ball on offense

Camden Dunn of the Dragons got the scoring started in the second quarter to make it 10-2. North Murray’s scoring drought came to an end as they would answer with a bucket of their own. Pickens big man Luke Rogers got in on the scoring as he would go on a 4-0 run to stretch the lead to 14-4. The Mountaineers would then close the gap with an 8-0 run to make it 14-12 before Rogers went on another 4-0 run to make it 18-12 Dragons. A three pointer by North Murray cut it to a 3 point lead, but Collin Kellogg would make a basket to give Pickens a 20-15 lead at the break.

Dragons on defense in the 2nd quarter

Coming out of the half and starting the third quarter, the Mountaineers went on a quick 4-0 run to cut the lead down to 20-19. A Kellogg bucket would make it 22-19. After a bucket by North Murray, the Dragons went on a 5-0 run as they got buckets from Stewart and Kadyn Hampton as well as a free throw by Rogers to make it 27-21. The Mountaineers got a bucket and a free throw to end the third as we’d head to the fourth with Pickens ahead, 27-24.

Dragons in-bounding the ball in the third

The Mountaineers, once again got the scoring started as we began the fourth quarter to cut it to 27-26. After Rogers went 1-2 from the free throw line, Stewart made a bucket to make it 30-26. After a bucket from North Murray cut the lead down to two, Caleb Keith hit a three to make it 33-28 Pickens. The Mountaineers would then answer with a 5-0 run to tie things up at 33. Rogers then made a bucket and Kellogg connected on a free throw to make it 36-33. Again, North Murray came back with a three pointer to tie it up at 36. Stewart gave the Dragons the lead back with a bucket making it 38-36. After tying things back up with a pair of free throws, the Mountaineers took the lead for the first time since the opening quarter as they would go on a 6-0 run that included 4 made free throws to make it 42-38. The Dragons would make one out of three free throw attempts and North Murray put the game away with two free throws as they get the win, 44-39.

Leading Scorers for North Murray:

Gavin Pittman: 9 points

Isaiah Morrison: 7 points

Seth Griffin: 7 points

Leading Scorers for Pickens:

Jaden Stewart: 14 points

Luke Rogers: 12 points

Collin Kellogg: 5 points

Up next for the Dragons is a date with their main rival, the Gilmer Bobcats in Ellijay on Saturday, December 4th. These two teams played on November 20th, with Gilmer coming away with a 60-53 win. Tip off set for 4:30 pm.