Saints march to win over Eastside

In the boys’ second round of the Warren Lodge Christmas Tournament Tuesday night, DeKalb County Middle School slipped past the Eastside Bulldogs 45-39 despite a 20-point performance by Logan Seamons.

Seamons hit the first two baskets of the game for Eastside, but the Saints’ Corey Atnip answered as DeKalb ran off eight straight points to take an 8-6 lead after one quarter of play.

The Bulldogs had trouble against the bigger DeKalb team in the second period. Three straight baskets, including two from Jake Puckett, put the Saints up by 10. Seamons hit at the 2:15 mark for the Bulldogs’ only basket of the period, and the Saints went back inside the paint to Atnip and Seth Willoughby to take a 20-8 lead at the break.

DeKalb continued to stay hot in the opening minutes of the third period. Puckett hit from the paint and Payne Dearman nailed a 3-pointer, and the Saints added two more baskets to end their scoring run in the third period. Eastside finally found the bottom of the net with 2:51 left in the period, when Gage Myers hit and Seamons slipped in a 3-pointer. The Bulldogs closed out the period with two more baskets and narrowed the gap to 11 as the Saints held a 29-18 lead.

The Bulldogs hit for 21 points in the final period. Seamons hit a pair of 3’s and Jordan Young pitched in nine, with seven points coming from the free-throw line. But the Saints kept pace adding 16 points as Dearman hit for nine in the period to secure his team’s victory.

For the Bulldogs, Seamons had 20, Young hit for 11 points, Caleb Northcutt added four, and Brady Powers and Gavin Lewis had two points each.

Dearman led the Saints with 13 points. Atnip hit for 12, Willoughby added 10, Puckett had eight and Brad Michaels pitched in two.