Cedar Grove’s Josh Daniels (with ball) drives against Lithonia’s Raheem Swain (left) during first half action of Lithonia’s 75-43 home victory. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Raheem Swain and Demetrius Jones combined for 21 points in the second quarter as the Lithonia Bulldogs blew past the Cedar Grove Saints for a 75-43 in non-region DeKalb County high school basketball action on Wednesday night.
Caleb Taylor’s steal for an easy basket and Jonah Huff’s driving layup in the final 2:31 of the first quarter gave Cedar Grove a 10-7 lead before the Bulldog duo exploded in the second quarter.
Jones hit a pair of free throws to open the second quarter and two minutes later he hit back to back three-pointers to give Lithonia the lead for good at 15-11.
Swain, who finished with 30 points on the night, hit a pair of free throws and then scored off an assist from Dennard Waller in a 9-0 run to up the lead to 24-13 with 3:15 left in the first half. His three-pointer finished off the run before Shandarius Echols hit a free throw and Taylor hit a three of his own to close the gap to 24-17.
An offensive put back by Keon Holloway started an 11-0 run to finish the half for the Bulldogs that ended just before the buzzer on a three by Waller from the top of the key off an inbounds play for a 35-17 lead at the break.
Lithonia (2-0) extended its run to 20-0 with a 9-0 spurt to open the second half with Swain putting in five points to build a 25-point margin of 44-19 with 3:57 to play in the third quarter. Swain added four more points late in the quarter and Emmanuel Wilkins banked in a three at the buzzer for a 57-25 advantage.
Taylor and Daniels would both hit a pair of three-pointers in the fourth quarter for the Saints, but Wilkins would also hit two more along with one each from Waller and Swain.
Jones finished with 12 points to join Swain in double figures for the Bulldogs while Wilkins tallied nine points and eight rebounds and Khalil Harris pulled down 10 rebounds.
Taylor hit for 13 points to lead the Saints (0-2) and Huff added 11.
Cedar Grove’s Rickayla Johnson (1) avoids Lithonia’s Janiya Smith (24) on a drive to the basket. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) Cedar Grove 45, Lithonia 13
Cedar Grove opened the night with a 45-13 victory over Lithonia in girls’ action led by Rickayla Johnson’s game-high 20 points.
Johnson opened the game with two quick baskets off of her own steal and one by Raveen Smith in the first 30 seconds of the game. Lelah Easterly put together six points in the next 1:30 including an offensive put back along with a trey by Smith for an 11-0 advantage.
Janiyah Smith hit one of two free throws to break the run only to have Easterly get on the offensive boards for another basket to start an 8-0 run capped by a layup by Jaylen Moore for a 19-1 margin to end the first quarter.
Cedar Grove lead 27-4 at the half and 35-9 at the end of third quarter.
Johnson added eight rebounds to go with her 20 points while Easterly put up eight points on the board while pulling down 12 rebounds as Cedar Grove won its season opener. Lithonia fell to 0-3 on the season led by Janiyah Smith with five points.