The Region 2-5A basketball tournament was held at Oxford High School this season, and the Chargers’ boys and girls teams held serve in their respective championship games.

The Lady Chargers defeated West Point 72-67 while the Chargers beat Saltillo 63-57 at the Oxford High gym Friday night. The wins gave both teams a first-round bye in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs, which begin next week.

Oxford’s girls will play the winner of the Lanier-Germantown first-round game while the boys will host either Canton or Lanier in the second round next Friday.

The first half could not have gone any better for coach Cliff Ormon and Oxford’s girls against West Point. The second half was a totally different story.

Oxford withstood a third-quarter rally to defeat the Lady Green Wave 72-67, claiming the Region 2-5A tournament championship.

The Lady Chargers were dominant in the first 16 minutes of action, creating turnovers and cashing in on the offensive end. West Point turned the ball over 11 times in the first half.

Oxford cruised out to a 40-19 halftime lead and looked primed to march into the second round with minimal resistance from the Lady Green Wave.

Maggee Hobson led Oxford with 23 points while Emma Shultz finished with 15 points.

Back-to-back champs

The Oxford boys won the Region 2-5A tournament on the road last year at West Point. This season, they were able to do the same thing in their own gym.

Oxford had to make do early on without its key player at full capacity. Junior guard Jarkel Joiner looked to have heavy legs to coach Drew Tyler and was not much of a factor early on, being held scoreless in the first quarter.

Senior D.K. Metcalf and junior Terry Williams kept the ship steady, providing the offense on a night when only four Chargers scored, to give Oxford a 29-28 lead at halftime.

Oxford used a 10-0 run to close out the third quarter when trailing 39-35 to pull ahead for good, outscoring Saltillo 28-18 the rest of the game for the win.

See Sunday’s edition of the EAGLE for complete coverage of Friday’s games.