The Bowdon High School boys basketball team had seen big leads in games disappear before, but the host Red Devils made sure it wouldn’t happen again on Tuesday night against arch rival Bremen in a 57-41 victory.

“That’s a big win for us. Like I say, once again, we’re learning how to win,” Red Devil coach Vic Coggins said. “That was huge for us to get a big win in a big rivalry game.”

When the Blue Devils cut a 14-point deficit to 35-31 with 2:59 left in the third, Bowdon freshman point guard J.B. Stephens had an answer. Stephens hit a three-pointer to push it up to 38-31 with 2:25 left in the third quarter.

Stephens was a major offensive catalyst for the Red Devils, as he scored 15 points on the night, all coming from beyond the arc.

And any hopes Bremen had of getting close in the fourth quarter were dashed by Darious Moten, who scored nine of his 16 points in the final eight minutes. Moten had three baskets and three free throws in the fourth as Bowdon never led by fewer than seven in the final quarter.

“I just do what I can, try to get rebounds, putbacks any way I can,” Moten said.

The Red Devils didn’t score their first points until almost four minutes into the game, but by halftime Bowdon had already pushed its lead to 26-16, led by Stephens’ nine points in the opening half.

“We just quit attacking. We got complacent,” Blue Devil coach Billy Pollard said. “We weren’t patient on offense, and our defensive effort was terrible. They played great offensively. They shot the ball well and put us off in a hole to start off with. We just never climbed back from it.”

After Stephens’ fourth three-pointer of the night pushed it to 35-21 with 5:56 left in the third, the Blue Devils used a 10-0 run to cut it to four points before Stephens’ final three-pointer of the night made it a seven-point game. Shortly thereafter, Moten took his turn at leading the Red Devils.

Pollard said he was very upset with his team’s effort.

“We’re going to fix our effort in the morning before school,” Pollard said.

Cedric Strickland finished with nine points for Bowdon, and Terell Thornton had six.

Clayton McIntosh had all 11 of his points after the half to finish as Bremen’s leading scorer, and Matt Parker added 10. Dylan Jenkins scored eight points in the loss.

Bremen girls 46, Bowdon 35: Both teams got on an offensive roll in the final half of the third quarter, but it was the Lady Blue Devils that carried their momentum into the fourth as they pulled away from host Bowdon (6-8, 0-4 Region 6-A) in a 47-36 win.

“We didn’t play real well in the first half, had to settle down and start hitting the easy jumpers,” Bremen coach Kathy Matthews said.

After Taylor Jennings’ long two-pointer was the only basket of the first half of the third quarter to leave it 17-16 in the Lady Blue Devils’ favor, the two teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the third. The flurry included two three-pointers by each team, and Bremen (5-4, 2-1 Region 6-A) headed to the fourth quarter with a slight edge, 27-25.

“When we don’t take care of the ball on our possessions, because we’re not a high-scoring team, it doubles up on us,” Red Devilette coach Melissa Ring said.

Bremen’s Holly Williams scored seven of her 12 points in the third, and she hit three free throws in the fourth to help ice the game. Haley Sewell hit a rhythm late in the third, as her pair of three-pointers, one in the third and one in the fourth, helped the Lady Blue Devils take control. Sewell also finished with 12 points.

Ring said her team’s zone defense was supposed to focus on Sewell, but it didn’t happen on a couple plays.

“Although we were supposed to key on Sewell, we got lost a couple of times,” Ring said. “And she was able to take her time and fill it up.”

The Red Devilettes’ would cut a 13-point deficit to 41-35 with 53 seconds left on a Camry Morris lay-up, but from there five Lady Blue Devil free throws pushed the final margin to an 11-point win.

“We had to settle down. We could have easily let them come back on us,” Matthews said. “But we were able to control the pressure they were throwing at us ... and able to step up and make some free throws.”

Jennings scored eight of her game-high 14 in the fourth. Sarah Stansberry added seven points in the Bremen victory.

Morris led Bowdon with 13 points, and Jessica Buchanan added 10. Sky Nicholson scored six.

Even in the loss, Ring said she was pleased with her team’s effort.

“We still made mistakes (Tuesday), but that was our best effort game of the year,” Ring said. “And that’s why I’ll take that. It’s a stepping stone.”