Tanner's Jaquan Thompson has the ball knocked away by Athens' John David Mathews during Monday night's game. Athens defeated Tanner 69-46.

It’s been more than 15 years since Athens High traveled down the road to Tanner to face the Rattlers in their basketball gym. After picking up victories in both the boys and girls games Monday night, the Golden Eagles might not mind making a return trip to Tanner soon.

After the Athens girls defeated Tanner in the opening game, the Golden Eagles boys did the same, overcoming a slow start to pull away for a 69-46 win.

“This is the first time we’ve been here in I believe 16 years,” Athens boys basketball coach Stace Tedford said. “We came out a little excited in the first quarter, but we played much better defense in the second half and started contesting shots.”

The game was a very open affair early, with lots of fast-break action. Athens led from the early going but could never pull away from Tanner and led just 17-13 after one quarter.

Tanner cut the lead to three points midway through the second quarter, but a quick flurry at the end of the quarter gave Athens momentum going into halftime.

Athens held a 31-24 lead in the final minute of the half before Chandler Leopard hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to put the Eagles up 10. With under 10 seconds remaining in the half, Jatius Turner stole the ball and went the length of the court for a layup that gave Athens a 36-24 halftime lead.

That was all the Golden Eagles would need, as Athens ramped up the defense in the second half and steadily pulled away.

Marqueze Bone led Athens with 15 points while Tyler Williams added 13 and Turner chipped in with 10. Tanner was led by J.J. Jones with 16 points and Jaquan Thompson with eight.

The victory gave Athens some positive momentum after suffering a tough 70-62 loss to Hazel Green last Friday.

“It was a great bounce back from the Hazel Green game,” Tedford said. “We didn’t played team defense well against Hazel Green, and in order to be successful, we’ve got to be solid together on defense.”

Tedford said his team did just that in the second half against Tanner.

“We’ve got to have all five guys playing together on defense, and in the second half we did that,” he said. “The score showed that.”

Athens girls 57, Tanner 33

A dominant rebounding advantage and fast-break points allowed Athens to shake off a slow start and take a 24-point win over Tanner.

Athens trailed 9-4 midway through the first quarter before embarking on a 17-0 run that gave the Golden Eagles a lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the contest.

Athens led 23-18 at halftime before outscoring Tanner 34-15 in the second half to pull away.

“We had some shots finally start falling and that will generally help you out playing better defense as well,” Athens head coach Eddie Murphree said. “Tanner has got a really good team and will be in the mix to compete for a state championship in 2A again this year. They play hard and play a good brand of basketball. I’m elated we were able to beat a good team tonight.”

Jakayla Bridgeforth and Stacia Benford both scored 11 points to lead Athens, while McKenzie Crutcher chipped in with eight and Alaina Taylor tallied seven.

Tanner was led by Nahri’yah Timmons, who scored seven points.