HAWESVILLE -- The middle school boys' teams closed out regular-season action Thursday night with a pair of games at Hancock County Middle School.

The seventh-grade team completed an undefeated season with its 20th win, 40-20 over the homestanding Cougars of Hancock County.

The eighth-graders were not so fortunate, dropping a 49-21 decision.

The loss dropped the Cougars from the top spot to third-place in the league standings. That means they will not be the top-seed in the upcoming league tournament, scheduled to begin Monday Feb. 2 at Hancock County.

7TH-GRADE GAME

Though they started slowly, Grayson County led from the outset and was in charge the whole way. They held an 8-0 advantage before Hancock scored with one second remaining in the first period to get on the board.

When Grayson County scored the first 15 points of the third quarter to go up 23-2, it was all over but the shouting.

In the third quarter, back-to-back three-pointers from Chris Stewart and Tyler Saltsman gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game, 26 points at 34-8. Hancock scored the last four points of the period to make it 34-12 heading into the final period of play.

Grayson County got scoring from nine different players. Saltsman, Stewart and Alphonso Soto all had seven points to share the scoring lead.

Bennett Skaggs added five points, Travis Johnston and Aaron Deviney had four each and Chris McCoy, Andre Calhoun and Matt Lee had two apiece to complete the scoring.

8TH GRADE GAME

The Cougar eighth-gra-ders had handled Hancock County by 13 points, 59-46 when the two teams faced off on Grayson County's floor back in November.

This time it was Hancock who dominated from the beginning. They used a 2-2-1 full-court zone trap to completely befuddle the Cougars.

Hancock had built an 11-0 lead before Grayson County could get on the board. The first period ended with Hancock holding an 18-4 lead. Grayson County trailed 27-11 at the half.

Things got no better in the second half. Hancock opened with a 12-2 run that increased their lead to 22 points, 35-13 at the 3:06 mark. They led by as many as 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Hancock's Michael Moseby led all scorers with 21 points.

Sean Embry led Grayson County's effort with nine points. Jordan Mudd had seven, Chris McCoy had four and Steven Miller finished with one point.