ATLANTA, GA -- Sandy Creek didn't reinvent the wheel to advance to the Region 5-AAAA tournament championship on Monday. The Patriots used size, rebounding and good old-fashioned defense to put away a big and good-shooting Fayette County team 57-49 on Saturday night.

The Patriots came out strong from the gates and set the tone with fly-to-the-shooter and physical defense to set the tone. Sandy Creek maintained a lead for three quarters strong.

Dante' Sterling drilled a pull-up three-pointer at the five minute mark in the fourth quarter to cut the Sandy Creek lead to 42-41 but that was as close at Fayette County could get. Sterling, again, hit a three at the 2:31 mark to bring the score to 48-47.

Sandy Creek used a nice rotation of size and athleticism from forwards Justin Sumpter, a Kennesaw State football signee, junior Januir Smith and senior Jalen Lee to maintain the size of Fayette County and played as physical as humanly possible with the Tigers.

"They were real important for us. They guarded and rebounded early so that kept us in it," Sandy Crek head coach Willie Reese said. "We kept them out of scoring early."

Seniors Brandon Lindsey scored 12 points and sophomore Christian Turner chipped in tough eight points in the paint for Sandy Creek.

C.J. Johnson scored a game-high 17 points and Dante Sterling scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Fayette County.

The win guaranteed Sandy Creek home court advantage in the state tournament for, at the minimum, two games.

"It is important on our end to play well here because we kind of faltered right before the break," Reese said.

Sandy Creek will play Alexander on Monday for the Region 5-AAAA tournament championship.