AAAA basketball blog: Southwest DeKalb, Miller Grove drop tournament games

Here’s a recap of some of the top holiday tournament action involving Class AAAA teams:

*Chick-fil-A Classic (at Columbia, S.C.): Southwest DeKalb’s boys lost to La Verne Lutheran of California 73-67 in a first-round game on Tuesday. Auburn signee Jordan Price scored 32 points to lead Southwest DeKalb, and Memphis signee William Goodwin had 22 points and nine rebounds. La Verne Lutheran was led by Grant Jerrett, a 6-foot-10 power forward/center who has signed with Arizona. Jerrett had 29 points and 15 rebounds and was 13-for-15 at the free-throw line. Two-time defending Class AAA champion Columbia also lost its first-round game, 62-45 against West Charlotte (N.C.). Southwest DeKalb faces Wilson (S.C.) on Wednesday, and Columbia plays Ridge View (S.C.). If both DeKalb County teams win or both lose, they would meet on Thursday.

*City of Palms Classic (at Fort Myers, Fla.): The Miller Grove boys team’s losing streak reached three games Tuesday night when the Wolverines lost to Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas 62-50 in a fifth-place semifinal. Shabazz Muhammad, ranked by several recruiting services as the nation’s top senior, had 28 points and 15 rebounds to lead Bishop Gorman, which is ranked in the top 10 nationally by USA Today and ESPN. Tony Parker had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Miller Grove (6-3). The Wolverines opened the tournament with a 59-55 loss to Riverside (La.) on Saturday. Parker had 14 points, six rebounds and six blocks before fouling out of that game. Miller Grove lost to Oak Hill Academy (Va.) 82-78 at Morehouse College last week.

*Jared Cook Classic (at North Gwinnett): The Salem girls team suffered its first loss of the season, falling 43-34 to Class AAAAA Central Gwinnett in a first-round game on Tuesday. Ayanna Mitchell scored 11 points and Danielle Thomas had 10 for the Seminoles, who fell to 9-1. Salem is scheduled to play at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the loser’s bracket against Chapel Hill, which lost its first-round game to Dacula. Chapel Hill’s boys advanced to a semifinal meeting with Central Gwinnett on Wednesday night with a 61-59 victory over Mercer Island (Wash.) on Jordan Jacks’ 3-point with 10 seconds remaining.

*Elsewhere: Alcovy’s girls team improved to a school-best 9-0 by winning the Savannah Holiday Classic. Alcovy beat Class AAAAA schools Windsor Forest (69-50) and Beach (62-56) in the first two rounds, then knocked off Statesboro 56-50 in the championship game on Monday. The losses were the first of the season for Beach and Statesboro. … Chamblee’s girls routed Clarke Central 60-41 on Tuesday to win the DeKalb County Holiday Tournament. Chamblee beat Cedar Grove 55-5 in the first round and Stone Mountain 70-39 in the semifinals. Chamblee, which was undefeated in the regular season last year and finished 23-1, is 12-0 this season.