Canes fall to Golden Lions in opening round

ST. PIUS X BOYS 63, CARTERSVILLE 46

After winning the Region 7-AAAA championship last weekend, the Cartersville boys basketball team saw their season come to an end Wednesday night at the Storm Center with an opening round state tournament loss to St. Pius X, 63-46.

The Canes’ Cortney Cooley hit a three point field goal to close out the first quarter and bring Cartersville even with the visiting Golden Lions after eight minutes, 16-16. St. Pius, the fourth-seed from Region 6-AAAA, used full court pressure and a hounding defense along with good ball movement and quality shooting to outscore the Canes 17-7 in the second quarter.

Carson Seramur and Kerney Lane made back-to-back three-pointers that put SPX up 26-18 midway through the second quarter. Later, a basket by Chandler Parks extended the Golden Lions lead to 30-20.

Jaylon Pugh sank a free throw for Cartersville to cut the St. Pius lead to seven, but Seramur hit another three-pointer to give the Lions a 33-23 advantage at the intermission on 50 percent shooting for the half.

The Canes were limited to 26 percent shooting in the first sixteen minutes.

The Golden Lions pushed their lead to 38-27 midway through the third quarter.

The Canes’ Trase Fezzia knocked down a three-pointer near the end of the period to cut the St. Pius lead to 40-33, but another Seramur three-pointer gave the Lions an eleven point lead after three quarters, 44-33.

Senior Cade Archer nailed a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter scoring for Cartersville, but St. Pius responded with ten unanswered points to extend their lead to 54-36 with just under four minutes remaining and the Lions cruised to victory from there.

Pugh led Cartersville with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Seramur and Lane led the Golden Lions with 20 and 17 points, respectively. Merrill scored nine.

St. Pius X improved to 23-6 and advanced to play a second round state tournament game at the Perry/Thomson winner Saturday night.

The Canes’ season comes to a close with a 21-7 record.

Other 7-AAAA first round final scores: Grady 78, Pickens 44 Columbia 70, Heritage-Catoosa 38 Lithonia 88, Northwest Whitfield 36