MORRISVILLE — Athens Drive got 28 points and nine rebounds from forward Josh Davis and used a big third quarter to rout Green Hope 65-47 on the road Friday night.

Davis scored the Jaguars’ first 10 points of the game and never really slowed down, continuing to have his way throughout the game. The Falcons even switched up their defensive approach a few times in the second half to try and stop him, but it was to no avail.

“A lot of games teams will play a box-and-1 against me or triple team me,” Davis said. “So I have to take advantage of all the opportunities I get. And I was able to do that.”

The 6-foot-6-inch senior dominated smaller defenders in the paint and was also a force on the break, throwing down a couple of dunks in transition. Green Hope had no answer.

“He carries us,” Athens Drive coach Robert Clemons said. “He averages 25 (points) a game. He’s by far the best player in this league.”

Despite Davis’ quick start, the Falcons actually led 26-24 at halftime. But midway through the third quarter, with the score tied at 34, the Jags’ Grayson Eubanks made two 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to spark a 14-3 run. Athens never looked back.

“Even though coach [Clemons] wants me to go to the basket more, if I’m open from outside I’m going to shoot,” Eubanks said. “And once I hit the first one it gave me confidence to hit the other one.”

Green Hope coach Mickey Bissette said that was the turning point in the game.

“Eubanks’ threes were the key,” Bissette said. “I had a flashback when he made them last year against another team when the same thing happened. After that, we turned the ball over a couple of times that led to some easy baskets, and Davis got a few dunks that got the crowd into it. We tried to force it a little bit during that stretch too. That hurt us.”

Turnovers plagued the Falcons for most of the game. They finished with 26 in all.

Bissette said he tried to address the problem during the break, but it didn’t seem to matter as the turnovers kept piling up in the second half.

“At the half we talked about making better passes and coming to meet the ball,” he said. “But they’ve got three aggressive guards, who play tough defense. And we stood on our heels and watched them get run-outs and score easily on us.”

Heading into the game the Jaguars’ playoff spot was clinched, but Green Hope still needed a win or a Lee County loss to secure the fifth-and-final spot from the Tri-Eight Conference.

Fortunately for the Falcons, the latter came true in the form of an Apex win over the Yellow Jackets.

Athens will be carry the second seed from the league into the postseason. Clemons said he was proud of the way his team played with much less on the line than its opponent.

“We’ve got a veteran group,” he said. “And this week in practice I hammered home how important this game was. In the past we’ve struggled shooting [at Green Hope], so we knew we’d have to play hard because they were definitely going to play well.”

Davis said the team got the message loud and clear.

“We fought hard,” he said. “In the past we might’ve folded in a situation like this, but coach has been telling us all year to play hard and we have been.”