By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

On Saturday night the Cougars visit to Albany  was met by a resurging  Indian team that just a few weeks ago the Cougars had destroyed 58-40 this time however, the spanking was on the Cougars 73-60.

Crisp County led several categories on the evening except the all important one hitting the shots made. Albany was 58% from the field and 60% from the line where as Crisp was 47% from the field and  a dismal 44% from the line. Albany took the lead early in the game and never relinquished it. The Cougars had 12 steals to Albany’s 5 and 15 assists and 2 for the Indians. The rebounds were nearly even at 27 for the Indians to 26 for the Cougars. The Cougars were led on offense by a host of players in double digits. Valdis Daniels had 13,Quay Walker had 12, Ijon Owens had 12 and DJ Tolbert kicked in 11 points in the losing effort to Albany.

“We missed a lot of makeable shots and Albany with their height is starting to play to their capabalities, “said Head Coach Stacey Stephens. Now with Albany starting to play better ball that puts 5 teams in the hunt for that fourth playoff spot in the region. Bainbridge, Monroe and Worth as of now look to be locks on the playoffs. Crisp, Americus,  Westover, Dougherty and Albany all seem to be in the hunt for the fourth spot. In this five-team hunt Crisp has beaten 2 out of 4 of those mentioned teams. However, each of those teams has beaten the other as well so it is a big jumbled pile going into the last 10 days of regular season. Westover seems to have the easiest road and Albany would  certainly need some help. As for Crisp County they need to win out in the region play that would about cinch it but then anything can happen. Next up for the Cougars is a trip down to Adel to play Cook County whom the Cougars have already beaten this year, then onto Monroe and home for Cairo to finish out the region schedule. As of now the Cougars are 14 and 6 on the year and 6-6 in the region.