AAA basketball: Barge shines for Carrollton

Talk with Carrollton boys coach Tim Criswell about Josh Barge, and he quickly gets back to a comment from legendary Trojan football coach Charles Grisham.

“Coach Grisham used to say there were guys that you could send to another planet, and whatever sport they’re playing there, they’d be the best at it within two weeks,” Criswell said. “That’s how it is with Josh. He excels at everything he does.”

The leading scorer (19.6 ppg) for the No. 3-ranked Trojans, who open the Class AAA state tournament Friday against Grady, Barge comes by his talent and drive honestly. His father, the late Anthony Barge Sr., was a standout basketball player at the University of West Georgia, where he and Criswell were teammates.

He died in a motorcycle crash in July 2010, and while Josh isn’t necessarily trying to be his father’s reincarnation, “AB” is still very much a presence in his life.

“I know he would want me to do what I would do if he was here,” said Josh who signed a football scholarship with Jacksonville State. “School-wise, sports-wise or person-wise, he would want me to be respectful, work hard and just do what is right.”

For Anthony Sr., that meant reaching out to those in need. He and his wife Cindy were foster parents, providing a temporary home to more than 200 kids, and they adopted four to permanently join the family with Josh and his two biological siblings.

“Whatever the needed, whatever hard times they were having, he was there for them,” said Criswell, who spoke at Anthony Sr.’s funeral. “It’ll always be a void that he’s not around now.”

Criswell sees a lot of AB in Josh, down to the propensity to enter into discussions with game officials.

“When I was little I hated losing, and when there was a bad call I’d go talk to the referees,” Josh said. “Dad just told me to ask what I did wrong so I’ll be able to avoid it. After games sometimes they’ll come to me and compliment me on how I conducted myself.”

Surprise champs: Three were a handful of surprise region champions across the state, none bigger than the Crisp County girls in 1-AAA. They’d lost twice to Albany’s Westover in the regular season, once by four points, once by 15, and the Westover girls entered the region tournament with one loss. But the Lady Cougars (17-10) held Westover star DyTiesha Dunson to three points and slipped away with a 46-41 win, the region championship trophy and a No. 1 seed for the state tournament.

Hot hand: Aside from No. 1-ranked Columbia, the hottest boys team in AAA may be Allatoona, which enters the state tournament on a 15-game winning streak, all but one of those games decided by 10 points or more. The Buccaneers are 24-4, and just one of their losses came at the hands of a AAA foe, that one on Dec. 29 against Carrollton.

Grinning in the Grove: Walnut Grove’s Nick Peters scored 16 points in the Warriors’ 57-51 win over North Hall for the Region 8-AAA crown, a game in which Walnut Grove overcame an 11-point first-half deficit.