COVINGTON, Ga. — With its 81-62 victory over Alcovy on Tuesday night, the Social Circle boys basketball team not only remains unbeaten overall, but it also earns the Redskins a season sweep over the Tigers. 

Just like in the previous matchup, the Redskins’ strong offensive performance led the way. 

Scoring came early and often for Social Circle as they were able to attack Alcovy from all parts of the court.

Senior Cam Gaithers’ eight points led the team in the opening two quarters, with seven of them coming from the free-throw line.

Alcovy did not come out to the best of starts as they struggled to find any success in the paint or the field.

Fouls and missed opportunities offensively plagued Alcovy during the opening half, as they went into the break down 36-20. 

The Tigers' struggles did not come into the second half, as the Alcovy offense began to pick up the pace and catch up on Social Circle.

Alcovy’s head coach Mack Hardwick noticed something different about his team coming out of halftime. 

“The biggest [change] I saw from the first to the second half was the heart and intensity,” Hardwick said, “We played the second half with a lot of intensity, but we were still incomplete.”

Junior Kendarious Spear came out of the break on a hot streak for the Tigers, knocking down three shots from the perimeter as well as going perfect at the line.

As the Tigers pulled within 10 points near the end of the third quarter, Social Circle began to go point-for-point with Alcovy, maintaining almost a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

Tyrhell Branch helped secure the win in the final eight minutes.

The senior scored from both the field and line on his way to a 12-point fourth quarter to ice the game and keep the Redskins undefeated. 

Even so, Redskins head coach Taylor Jackson believes the best is yet to come for this year’s team. 

“Even though we have beaten much bigger schools than us, we also understand that our best basketball has not been played yet,” Social Circle head coach Taylor Jackson said. “We can get better at shooting with more confidence for the full four quarters and better defense. Our confidence level is high, but we still know we are getting better.”

Branch surpassed his 1,000th point on his way to a team-leading 20 points as he was one of the main reasons the Tigers failed to come back into the game late. Junior AJ Vinson followed with 14-points in a game where he dominated boards for the Redskins.

Spears led the Tigers with 19 points as his shooting in the second half kept the game close for Alcovy. Junior Ben Hodges followed in second with 16 points.

After advancing to 8-0 on the season, Social Circle will go home as they host region opponent Towns County Saturday, Dec. 18. The Tigers fall to 2-8 on the year and will host a non-region matchup against the Monroe Area Hurricanes Friday, Dec. 17.