The No. 3 ranked Miller Grove Wolverines turned up the defense to start the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run on the way to a 59-43 Class 5A Boys’ State Playoffs quarterfinals victory over Riverwood on Wednesday night at Miller Grove.

A Joshua Jackmon layup on a pass from George Wilson and a pair of Tae Hardy free throws in the final 35 seconds of the third quarter started a 14-0 run for the Wolverines.

Leading 34-27 going into the fourth quarter, Miller Grove (21-8) extended their defense frustrating the Riverwood shooters had kept the Raiders in the game through most of the first three quarter. The pressure turned into four turnovers by Riverwood and the Wolverines continued their run with 10 more points to go up 44-27 on Jermon Clark’s dunk on a feed from Wilson with 4:16 to play.

The Raiders had gone almost five minutes without a point to find themselves down by 17 with just over half a quarter to play.

Riverwood had battled to a pair of close victories in the first two rounds of the playoffs and showed why as they answered with a 12-4 run of their own behind six points from Elijah Dudley and a pair of three pointers by Elijah Jenkins. The lead was trimmed to nine (50-41) with 2:13 to play.

Miller Grove would go on to hit seven of 10 from the free-throw line to go with a rim rattling dunk by Hardy to close out the game.

Riverwood’s lone points in the final 2:13 came on an offensive put back by Josh Brown with 35 seconds to play for the final of 59-43.

The two teams started slowly to open the game missing a combined 26 shots in the first quarter alone with Miller Grove taking the lead for good at 9-8 following a Wilson three-pointer and a Kevin Paige free throw to end the first period.

Jenkins, who hit five three-pointers in the game, hit two early in the second quarter to pull Riverwood into a 14-14 tie with 5:24 to play in the first half.

Hardy then knocked a three of his own along with a short jumper to give the Wolverines the lead for good. Clark got inside on a nice pass from Wilson for a layup and a 21-14 lead with 2:47 left.

Jenkins would hit another three and Rudy Fitzgibbons hit one with eight seconds left to make it a 23-20 game at the half as two Miller Grove shots rimmed out just before the buzzer.

Hardy’s 23 points were a game-high while Kevin Paige added 10 points and 18 rebounds and Jermon Clark chipped in 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Wolverines. Jenkins finished with 15 to lead Riverwood (23-6).

Miller Grove advances to the Final Four for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons while improving their school playoff record to 44-3 in 11 playoff appearances. The Wolverines face No. 4 ranked Cedar Shoals (26-4), which escaped a scrappy Lithonia Bulldog upset bid 59-52, at 4:00 pm on Saturday at Columbus State.

The No. 4 seeded Bulldogs jumped out to an early 17-3 lead with 1:38 to play in the first quarter only to see mistakes let Cedar Shoals go on a 17-0 run to take the lead.

A Cedar Shoals put back at the buzzer send the home team into the half up 25-23.

The Bulldogs (13-17) got off to a slow start in the second half allowing a 5-0 run by Cedar Shoals to pull away to a 41-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter

Lithonia was by no means finished rallying to within 48-44 with 2:58 to play on Cortez Robinson’s steal and layup. Cedar Shoals would prevent the tie and use the free-throw line to keep Lithonia at bey.

Sydarius Stinson finished the game with 15 points for the Bulldogs while Robert Hatchett and Cortez Robinson chipped in 9 apiece.

DCSD BASKETBALL STATE PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Mar. 1
Class 5A Boys
Miller Grove (21-8) 59, Riverwood (23-6) 43
Cedar Shoals (26-4) 59, Lithonia (13-17) 52

Saturday, March 4
Class 5A Semifinals at Columbus State
Girls
SW DeKalb (26-4) vs. Flowery Branch (24-6), 2:00 pm

Boys
Miller Grove (21-8) vs. Cedar Shoals (26-4), 4:00 pm