DALLAS – New Manchester’s boys opened strong against host East Paulding last night and never let up, taking down the Raiders 67-48 in a Region 5-AAAAA contest.

The Lady Jags weren’t as fortunate, letting a game that was close early on get away in the second half in a 52-37 loss to the Lady Raiders.

New Manchester’s boys led 14-6 at the end of the first quarter and went up 23-9 on Keymont Jenkins’ dunk with five minutes left in the half. Ryan Edwards’ layup with 1:12 to play in the second period gave the Jags a 17-point lead, their biggest of the half, and was part of a 9-3 New Manchester run at the end of the second quarter.

East Paulding got as close as 12 in the third quarter before the Jags pulled away for good, taking 20-point leads twice early in the fourth, both times on three-point plays – one by Joe Boyer and the other by Jenkins.

Edwards hit two from the line for the Jags with 5:53 left in the game to put New Manchester up by 22 at 57-35 and both teams put in subs with the game in hand for most of the final five minutes.

Boyer led the Jags, hitting 11-of-13 from the line en route to a team-high 19 points. Jenkins added 15 points and Edwards tacked on 14 for New Manchester, which improved to 2-3 with the win.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Jags had a hard time getting shots to fall from the field and at the line as they dropped to 1-4 overall. They hit just 30 percent from the line (7-of-23).

Jonika Jones’ 25-footer at the buzzer left New Manchester trailing just 18-12 at the half after both teams managed just four points each in the second quarter.

But East Paulding pulled away in the final two periods. The Lady Raiders started the third with a 10-1 run to open up a 15-point lead. East Paulding guard Andrea Vilkna hit two of her five 3-pointers in the stretch.

The Lady Jags trailed by as many as 24 after another Vilkna 3 and two-straight jumpers in the post by Toni Coleman.

New Manchester’s Deesha Brefford hit a 3 and added a layup off a steal to make it a 49-33 game with 2:52 left but the Jags couldn’t get much closer.

Brefford led New Manchester with 12, followed by Dashauna Smith and Alyssa Harris with seven apiece. Vilkna and Coleman each had 15 for the Lady Raiders.