The Druid Hills Red Devils and Southwest DeKalb Panthers joined 14 other DeKalb County basketball teams with playoff berths as they advanced to face each other in the Region 6-4A semifinals on Friday at Miller Grove.

The Red Devils (16-10) rallied from a 37-33 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off the Stephenson Jaguars (15-11) 45-41 to move on to the region semifinals on Friday.

Ed Hendricks put Stephenson up by four with a layup at the 4:32 mark of the fourth quarter before the Red Devils began their comeback.

Nick Majors and AJ Etienne each went 2-2 at the free throw line to knot the game at 37-37 with 4:05 to play. A miss on the Stephenson end of the court turned into a three-pointer for Druid Hills’ David Sledge and a 40-37 lead with 3:20 to play.

Christian King cut the Druid Hills’ lead to 40-39 with an offensive put back with 2:18 remaining and Etienne answered with a three from the top of the key to make it 43-39 with 1:12 left on the clock.

Following a rushed shot with under a minute to play King would go on to hit a pair of free throws to again trim the lead at 43-41. Sledge was fouled with 2.9 seconds to play and hit both ends of the one-and-one to seal the 45-41 win.

Majors finished the night with 16 points followed by Sledge with 14 and Etienne with 10 for Druid Hills. Ed Hendricks had 12 points and Christian King 10 for the Jaguars.

SW DeKalb 71, Stone Mountain 42
The Southwest DeKalb Panthers pulled away from a 2-2 tie with the Stone Mountain Pirates with a 40-22 run to halftime on the way to a 71-42 win in the boys’ quarterfinal of the Region 6-4A Tournament at Miller Grove on Wednesday night.

Savion Thomas pass to Thomas Glanton for a three-pointer and to Josh Clemons for a layup in the final 25 seconds of the first quarter for the Panthers(23-2) to go up 17-8 heading into the second period of play.

A fast 10-2 start to the second quarter had Southwest DeKalb up 27-10 with 5:15 left in the first half behind a three-point play and a three-pointer by Mathis and two free throws and a layup by Isaiah Taylor.

Steals by Xzaviah Taylor and Clemons as the clock moved under the 2:30 mark led to baskets and a 40-18 advantage. Quick baskets by Stone Mountain’s Alonzo Brown and Jabril Dixon managed to cut the lead to 42-24 at the half.

Southwest DeKalb made sure in the third quarter the Pirates (4-23) had no chance to rally going on a 15-2 run in the final 5:09 of the third quarter to take complete control up 59-31 going into the fourth quarter. Two-three pointers by Kaiden Montfort and a three-point play by Isaiah Taylor nailed things down as the Panthers went up by 28.

A dunk by Xzaviah Taylor with 6:14 to play made it 65-31 and the Panthers would cruise on to the 71-42 victory.

Ten different Panthers scored in the game led by Isaiah Taylor and Savion Mathis with 11 points apiece and 10 more from Messiah Mergan.

Malik Hinton led Stone Mountain with a game-high 15 points.

(G) Hapeville 49, Stephenson 38
A 22-year playoff streak ended for the Stephenson Lady Jaguars as the Hapeville Charter Lady Hornets ran off a 17-8 final 6:15 of he game to win the Region 6-4A girls’ quarterfinal matchup at Miller Grove.

Stephenson (12-13) trailed Hapeville (14-9) throughout the game including a 30-27 deficit going into the final quarter of play. Stephenson’s Blessy Abong made it a two-point game with a three pointer to pull Stephenson within 32-30 with 6:44 to play.

A basket by Ava Freeman followed by a three-pointer by Eboni Banks helped Hapeville pull back out in front by eight (38-30) with 5:07 left in the game.

Markayla Lockhart finished off Stephenson scoring the final six points for Hapeville to prevent any thoughts of a big comeback.

Lockhart finished the night with 22 points and 7 rebounds while Ava Freeman had an 11-pointm 11-rebound double-double for Hapeville. Tehya Brewer finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds for Stephenson while Sabrina Russell added 9 points.

In the other girls’ quarterfinal at Miller Grove Holy Innocent’s downed Stone Mountain 87-15 to advance to the semifinals against Hapeville on Friday.

TEAMS ALREADY IN PLAYOFFS (16)
(Girls – 7) Arabia Mountain, Cedar Grove, Chamblee, Columbia, Lakeside, Lithonia, SW DeKalb
(Boys – 9) Cedar Grove, Chamblee, Columbia, Druid Hills, Lithonia, Miller Grove, Redan, SW DeKalb, Tucker

DEKALB REGION TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, 2/15
REGION 6-4A – QUARTERFINALS
AT MILLER GROVE
(G) Hapeville (14-9) 49, Stephenson (12-13) 38
(B) Druid Hills (16-10) 45, Stephenson (15-11) 41
(G) Holy Innocents’ (20-4) 87, Stone Mountain (5-19) 15
(B) SW DeKalb (23-2) 71, Stone Mountain (4-23) 42

REGION 4-5A – SEMIFINALS
AT ARABIA MOUNTAIN
(G) Decatur (17-8) 70, Chamblee (12-9) 50
(B) Decatur (16-8) 43, Lithonia (17-9) 36
(G) Arabia Mountain (24-1) 73, Lithonia (8-18) 49
(B) Tucker (19-6) 76, Chamblee (8-16) 66

REGION 5-2A – SEMIFINALS
AT COLUMBIA
(G) Columbia (20-6) 57, ELCA (9-12) 34
(B) Columbia (26-1) 81, Landmark (12-15) 58
(G) Landmark (19-8) 73, Callaway (16-7) 29
(B) Redan (15-7) 55, Callaway (12-12) 53

Thursday, 2/16
REGION 5-3A – CHAMPIONSHIP
AT SANDY CREEK
(G -Consolation) Cedar Grove (3-15) vs. Douglass, 4:00 pm
(B) Cedar Grove (16-8) vs. Sandy Creek (20-6), 8:30 pm

REGION 4-6A – SEMIFINALS
AT RIVERWOOD
(G) Lakeside (14-9) vs. Marist (22-2), 7:00 pm

Friday, 2/17
REGION 4-6A — SEMIFINALS
AT MILLER GROVE
(G) SW DeKalb (16-10) vs. Westminster (20-6), 4:00 pm
(B) Miller Grove (14-11) vs. Holy Innocent’s (15-10), 5:30 pm
(G) Hapeville (14-9) vs. Holy Innocents’ (20-4), 7:00 pm
(B) Druid Hills (16-10) vs. SW DeKalb (23-2), 8:30 pm

REGION 4-5A – CONSOLATION/FINALS
AT ARABIA MOUNTAIN
(G) Lithonia (8-18) vs. Chamblee (12-9), 4:00 pm
(B) Chamblee (8-16) vs. Lithonia (17-9), 5:30 pm
(G) Decatur (17-8) vs. Arabia Mountain (24-1), 7:00 pm
(B) Decatur (16-8) vs. Tucker 19-6), 8:30 pm

REGION 5-2A – CONSOLATION/FINALS
AT COLUMBIA
(G) ELCA (9-12) vs. Callaway (12-12), 2:00 pm
(B) Callaway (12-12) vs. Landmark (12-15), 3:30 pm
(G) Landmark (19-8) vs. Columbia (20-6), 5:00 pm
(B) Redan (15-7) vs. Columbia (26-1) 6:30 pm