MACON, GA -- Stratford Academy sophomore guard Quintez Cephus started the game against Southland Academy on Tuesday night with a pair of good-looking pull-up three-pointers and a lay-up in the first minute and a half of the game.

It looked like it was going to be one of those nights where the super scorer was going to be in the zone for the rest of the night. He helped his team climb to a 41-28 halftime lead.

Then Southland came storming back at "The Grady" and cut the lead to 56-50 in the fourth quarter. It was buckle up time. The two GISA schools were locked up in a good one. But Stratford coach James Dickey wanted to cool the hot hand of Southland's Michael Volley, a 6-foot-1 senior, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half.

Stratford held the ball and let the opposition sit back in the zone. The move was calculated and effective.

"We held it and they had to come out of the zone. I didn't think they could stay in front of us if we made they go man-to-man," Cephus said. "They couldn't get out and run there."

Cephus was right. The move worked and Stratford held on for a 65-54 win. The game was also the first time to really see Cephus and new high school teammate O'Showen Williams play off of each other at Stratford.

"We are building chemistry. We are getting better. It is coming quick. The first couple of games that I've been over here have been blowouts so it was good for us to see how we could do against a good team," said Williams, who is fresh off a transfer from First Presbyterian Day at the semester break. "We saw we could be under control under pressure."

Down the stretch, Williams made some big plays with his wheels. The 5-foot-10 point guard was a blur with the ball, finding teammates down low for easy buckets. Cephus finished with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Williams added eight points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the win.

Together, the two make for an interesting backcourt in Central Georgia. Stratford Academy (10-2) will move over to the GHSA next year and participate in Region 7-A. Having these two in place will certainly make the transiiton a smoother one.

Williams said he likes the quick work he and Cephus are putting in.

"We just have to go hard every day. We play AAU together so we already have good chemistry between each other. We have to keep playing together, keep practicing, keep working," Williams said. "I have to take care of the ball, keep my teammates involved."

College coaches have taken notice, especially Clemson. Cephus said head coach Brad Brownell has been in to see him a couple of times this year. Georgia, Cephus says, is coming down soon. Mercer has been in a couple of times. Williams said he's also hearing from the same schools as well as Xavier.

The two guards are going up to Clemson on Saturday when the Tigers play host to Wake Forest. This will be the fourth time Cephus has been to the ACC school.

"I like the coaching staff. They are good, hard-working people," Cephus said of the Tigers coaching staff. "I feel like they are family. I like the coaching staff and coach Brownell is humble and makes me want to work harder."

Clemson won't be the only team making a move for the duo. Time is certainly on their side and they're putting in the work to justify the attention.