The South Effingham boys basketball team has had a few days to put its regular season-ending loss to Metter behind.

But even without a game on the schedule for the weekend off, there is no weekend off for the Mustangs, who will play Washington County on Monday in the first round of the Region 3-AAA tournament. Game time is 8:30 p.m. at the Burke County High School gym.

“What you try to do is try to shore up things you’ve been doing,” Mustangs coach Jason Keeler said, “maybe add in a couple of new things. We’ll try to mix things up a little bit.”

Keeler was disappointed in the defeat at the hands of the 4-17 Tigers in the regular season finale Tuesday. Now his Mustangs (7-17, 1-9) face a Washington County team that enters the postseason at 18-6 overall and 7-3 in the region.

He was able to scout Washington County briefly but even that glance didn’t show him much of what he needed to know about what the Golden Hawks might do Monday night.

“We’re going to see a lot of zone,” Keeler said.

With that, the Mustangs will need to hit outside shots, which hasn’t been their forte this season.

“You’ve got to have somebody outside who knocks down the 3(-pointer),” Keeler said. “We’ve had trouble with zones all year. We’re not a good shooting team.

“We’ve been shooting the ball with a little more confidence, but I don’t know if we shoot with enough confidence.”

In their final home game of the season, the Mustangs held No. 9-ranked Liberty County (19-3, 10-0) to 27 first-half points before falling 67-37.

“We worked hard in preparing for them,” Keeler said. “We worked hard on specifically what they want to do. Over time, what hurt us was mistakes in the halfcourt. No matter how you try, you’re not prepared to throw a pass around a guy with an 8-foot wingspan.”