Release Date:12/30/2009
News Title: South Cobb Eagles win first Deep South Classic


First year head coach of the South Cobb Eagles Kris Watkins made his coaching father proud tonight in winning his first Deep South Classic Championship. His father Tony, currently North Gwinnett’s girls coach and a long time Gwinnett County boys and girls basketball coach, who has coached in the Deep South Classic before, didn’t see the action as he was busy coaching his team in another tournament.

The Eagles in their second appearance in a Deep South Classic, built an early lead, and then rallied behind tournament MVP Devyn Morse’s 11 fourth-quarter points after weathering the Bulldoggs’ storm in the middle two quarters to claim the title with a 54-53 win.
“We were a lot better offensively in the fourth quarter,” said Watkins, a Shiloh grad and the son of North Gwinnett girls coach Tony Watkins. “We executed real well. I’m so proud of them.”
The Eagles (8-1) claimed their first Deep South Classic trophy by outscoring Winder-Barrow (10-2) 24-16 in the fourth quarter after trailing 37-30 after three quarters. But as well as they played in the final quarter, an equally strong start also played a big role in their victory.
South Cobb came out strong defensively, forcing Winder-Barrow into turnovers in seven of its first nine possessions to take a 17-7 lead after one quarter.
Trailing 22-16, Winder-Barrow finally began to heat up, outscoring South Cobb 8-0 over the final 3:22 of the first half to take a 24-22 lead into intermission.
2009 Deep South Classic All Tournament Team selection D.J. Butler also began to get hot, scoring seven points and dishing out three assists in the third quarter and leading a 7-2 run over the final 2:00 of the third quarter to give the Bulldoggs their seven-point lead heading into the final frame.
And Butler actually got stronger in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 of Winder-Barrow’s 16 points in the period, including hitting eight straight free throws.
But Morse and South Cobb kept surging as the 6-foot-5 senior scored seven points during a 15-8 run that pulled South Cobb even at 45-45 after Morse’s free throw with 2:39 left.
And when Darrien Dean connected on a 3-pointer with 2:01 left, the Eagles had their first lead since late in the second quarter at 48-47.
The two teams then traded the lead five more times before Corey Ross took a pass from Chris Hollman in the left corner, faked his man in the air and ducked under for a 15-foot jumper to put South Cobb back on top 54-53 with 9 seconds left. Ross was also named to the Deep South Classic All Tournament team.
After a pair of timeouts, Winder-Barrow had one last chance, but Butler was forced to give up the ball, and by the time he got it back, all he could manage was a desperation heave at the buzzer that was off the mark.
Butler led all scorers with 22 points and added five assists, while teammate and fellow Deep South Classic All Tournament Team member Alonzo Nelson-Odado added 12 points and nine rebounds, most in the first half.