Chamblee’s Eston McDown hit three treys in the final 3:28 of the third quarter to put the Chamblee Bulldogs ahead for good on the way to a Region 4-5A high school boys’ basketball victory over the Arabia Mountain Rams on Friday night.

The two teams had four lead changes in the third period after Chamblee led 23-22 at the half. Arabia Mountain (7-13, 2-9) took 32-29 lead as Jaden Ward hit back-to-back baskets, including a baseline drive and then a big three-pointer with 3:50 remaining in the quarter.

McDow then got a three-pointer from the left corner to propel the Bulldogs (15-8, 6-6) back into the lead at 33-32 with 3:28 to go in the third quarter. He came back down court and, on a pass, back out by Simeon Simmons swished another three from the left wing to extend the lead to 36-32 just 29 seconds later.

The Rams responded as Ward drove in for another basket to trim the lead back to 36-34 with 1:13 left in the quarter. The clock was running down when McDow got the ball just over half court and let fly with the deep three-point attempt that hit nothing by net as the buzzer went off giving the Bulldogs a 39-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Kali Clemons had an acrobatic drive to the basket to open the fourth quarter giving the Bulldogs a 41-34 lead.

Arabia Mountain began slowly closing the gap as the Bulldogs went cold from the field (2-9). Boubacar Bah hit three of four from the free-throw line during the stretch to help pull the Rams within 44-42 with 3:15 remaining in the game.

Ari Meyer drove the baseline, drawing a crowd and passed across to the right corner to a wide-open Ryan McCord who drained the open three for a 47-42 lead with 2:17 to play.

The Rams had a turnover and missed a couple of shots during a stretch where Maddox Thomas hit three of four foul shots to push the advantage out to 50-42.

Meyer would then get a steal with 20 seconds left to seal the win for Chamblee.

The first half had eight lead changes and three ties as the two teams battled throughout. Ward hit a three to put the Rams up 22-20 with 33 seconds remaining in the first half and the Bulldogs answered with a three by Donovan Smith to take the 23-22 halftime lead.

Chamblee had a balanced attack led by McDow with nine points, McCord with eight points and Robertson added seven points and seven rebounds.

Arabia Mountain was led by Ward with 14 points and seven rebounds while Bah finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

(G) Arabia Mountain 82, Chamblee 20
A 9-0 run to open the game set the tone as the Arabia Mountain Lady Rams ran past the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs 82-20 in the opening game of the Region 4-5 set at Chamblee on Friday night.

Angelina Billingsley opened the scoring for the Lady Rams (15-6, 8-3) on a pass from Londyn Richarson and Sha’nya Heath, a sophomore who just went over 1,000 career points earlier in the week, followed with a three-pointer.

Kendall Greer then had back-to-back baskets to make it 9-0 with 5:36 to play in the opening period.

Brianna Wood got the Bulldogs (412, 1-8) on the board taking an inbounds pass from Regan Hudson but the Rams would answer with an 18-4 finish to the quarter started by a Charmaine Owens three-pointer. It would be the first of two in the run for Owens.

Greer opened the second with back-to-back goals on passes from Heath and Billingsley. A steal by Heath and a layup made it 32-6 with 6:52 to play in the first half.

Tiffany Cobb scored all three points of the second quarter for Chamblee as she hit three of four free throws.

Heath scored 11 points in the quarter to finish with 18 in the first half to lead a trio of Rams’ players in double figures in the 55-point first half.

Arabia Mountain’s three double figure scorers for the game were Heath with 20 points, Owens with 16, Greer with 15 and Billingsley added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Chamblee got seven points and eight rebounds from Brianna Wood and five points and five rebounds from Tiffany Cobb.