Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category

David Boyd, the boys basketball coach who won six state championships before his forced resignation at Milton last year, is the new head coach at Excel Christian, a private Class A school in Cartersville.

”Blessed to be back in the game,” Boyd posted on his Twitter account on Monday. ”Looking forward to meeting all the players’ parents and the players at Excel Christian Academy at 6:00pm tomorrow [Tuesday].”

Boyd replaces Jon-Michael Dickerson, who took a job as a graduate assistant at Memphis University.

Excel Christian was 26-3 last season and lost to Aquinas in the Class A private quarterfinals.

Boyd was had coach for state championship teams at Milton in 2010 and 2012. Several of his Milton players have gone on to play for major college programs. They include Evan Nolte (Virginia), Julian Royal (Georgia Tech), Shannon Scott (Ohio State), Dai-Jon Parker (Vanderbilt), Shaquille Johnson (Auburn) and Charles Mann (Georgia).

Boyd resigned in September amid allegations that he …

Continue reading David Boyd hired at Excel Christian »

Atlanta is the eighth-best city for producing current NBA talent, according to MaxPreps writer Kevin Askeland.

Lakers center Dwight Howard, a graduate of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, is the marquee Atlanta-produced player.

The No. 1 ranking went to Los Angeles, which Russell Westbrook of the Thunder and Paul Pierce of the Celtics.

Atlanta’s ranking would be higher if Josh Smith and Lou Williams, both of the Hawks, were included.

Smith played at McEachern as a sophomore and junior but spent his senior season at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. Askeland used the players’ last high school.

Williams was not counted because of a season-ending injury. The players were rated based on their NBA Total Player Rating for this season.

Which brings me to this –

With Smith and Williams added, would Atlanta beat L.A.? Atlanta needs more guards, but L.A. doesn’t have the size to match up with Howard, Smith and J.J. Hickson.

Let’s compare:

ATLANTA

C Dwight Howard (17.1 ppg, …

Continue reading How do Atlanta’s NBA players stack up? MaxPreps rates ATL at No. 8 »

Three former Georgia high school basketball players are on teams that made this weekend’s Final Four in Atlanta. They are Kevin Ware (Rockdale County) of Louisville and Tekele Cotton (Whitefield Academy) and Carl Hal (Bleckley County) of Wichita State.

It’s rare that a Georgia player has been one of the marquee players in the Final Four.

Here are five memorable exceptions:

1981: Al Wood, Jones County – Wood was the first Georgia player to make the five-man All-Tournament team, and  no Georgia player has ever been so prolific a scorer on such a national stage as Wood in the 1981 semifinals against Virginia and Ralph Sampson. The 6-foot-6 guard scored 39 points (making 14 of 19 shots) with 10 rebounds in the 78-65 victory.  The 39 points broke Jerry West’s record of 38 for a national semifinal. Wood scored 18 more in the final, but North Carolina was beaten by Indiana and Isiah Thomas. Wood was drafted by the Hawks in the first round and played seven years in the NBA. …

Continue reading ‘Never Nervous’: Five Georgia players who starred in the Final Four »

The DeKalb County Basketball All-Star Games, to be played Thursday, April 4, at Tucker, have secured virtually every top senior in the school system. That should make for two pretty good games given that five DeKalb public teams played in the state finals this season.

The rosters include boys players Tahj Shamsid-Deen of Columbia (Class AAAA player of the year, Auburn signee) and Davonte Fitzgerald of Tucker (Region 6-AAAAA player of the year, Texas A&M signee) and girls players Miah Spencer of Columbia (AAAA player of the year, N.C. State signee) and Kaliyah Mitchell of Stephenson (former AAAA player of the year, Penn signee).

The coaches will be Johnny Toombs of Towers and Angela Nash of Druid Hills (girls) and Steve Clark of McNair and Jerome Lee of Druid Hills (boys).

Here are the rosters. All-state players are noted in bold.

Lee’s boys – Bakari Copeland, Arabia Mountain, Philip Reeves, Arabia Mountain; Deionte Menessee, Cross Keys; Clarence Williams, Druid Hills; …

Continue reading Shamsid-Deen, Spencer highlight loaded DeKalb basketball all-star games »

The basketball season is done, and 14 teams are champions. All that’s left is the accolades. The AJC’s all-state team will be announced in less than two weeks.

Who were the players of the year?

On the girls side, the leading contender is Diamond DeShields of Norcross. She has won two national player of the year awards, and her team won a third state title in her four seasons as a starter. Other top players include DeShields’ teammate, Shayla Cooper; North Gwinnett’s Lexie Brown; and Asia Durr of St. Pius.

On the boys side, expect more debate.

Brandon Goodwin looked pretty good in the Class AAAAAA final against Hillgrove. He scored 22 points (7-for-11 from the field) and had seven rebounds.

Johnson-Savannah guard Tim Quarterman, who has signed with LSU, scored 21 in the victory over Savannah in the AAA final.

Eagle’s Landing has several blue-chip recruits on its AAAA championship team. Desmond Ringer had a monster championship game with 17 points (8-of-9 shooting) with 14 …

Continue reading Basketball: Who is your player of the year? »

Brandon Goodwin has been the recipient of several scholarship offers from mid-major programs. After his performance in Saturday’s Class AAAAAA championship game he may expect to get a few more.

The senior continued his stellar play in the state playoffs by scoring 22 points to lead No. 3 Norcross to a 60-48 win over No. 5 Hillgrove at the Macon Coliseum. It was the fifth state championship over the last eight years for the Blue Devils, who last won the title in 2011.

The win gave Norcross the boys and girls basketball championship. The Blue Devils became the first school in the history of the Georgia High School Association to hold the both state basketball championships and the state football championship from the same school year.

“This means a lot, to end our senior year with a state championship,” said Goodwin, while clutching the silver championship trophy. “I wasn’t going to leave without getting one.”

Goodwin, who scored 26 in the semifinal win over North …

Continue reading Class AAAAAA boys: Norcross 60, Hillgrove 48 »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Cut it out, Diamond. And you too, Shayla.

The best girls high school basketball player in America, Diamond DeShields, and her dynamic sidekick, Shayla Cooper, showed up big time on Saturday night, putting all of their skills on display. And their teammates showed why they are far from chopped liver, as Norcross rolled to its third state championship in the last five years in Georgia’s largest classification, with a 63-42 win over Region 7-AAAAAA rival North Gwinnett.

DeShields led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed four rebounds, while Cooper added 20 points and eight boards, to lead the onslaught. DeShields, headed to North Carolina, and Cooper, headed to Georgetown, outplayed North Gwinnett’s Big Two, Lexie Brown, headed to Maryland, and Peyton Whitted, headed to Penn State. Brown finished with 20 points while the 6-foot-3 Whitted scored seven points and had just two rebounds.

Norcross had dropped two of the three games it played …

Continue reading Class AAAAAA Girls Final: Norcross 63, North Gwinnett 42 »

MACON – For a quarter and a half, two neighborhood rivals battled to a near draw in a hard-fought start.

Then, thanks to a little help from Tim Quarterman, Johnson-Savannah found its offense.

The LSU commit scored 9 of his game-high 21 points in a 3:30 stretch to key a run that gave the No. 3 Atom Smashers the lead and sparked them to a 61-51 win over No. 2 Savannah for the Class AAA title.

It’s the first state title since 1992 for Johnson (25-6), who never surrendered the lead after gaining it around the halfway point of the second quarter, early in that effectively deciding run. The Johnson lead grew to as many as 16 during the second half.

It looked like neither team would ever take control early, as the first quarter grinded on with only 14 total points scored between the two rivals.

The Atom Smashers led 8-6, but it felt like the teams were just standing at midcourt slugging each other.

It stayed tight past the 5-minute mark of the second quarter, when Johnson finally …

Continue reading AAA boys: Johnson-Savannah 61, Savannah 51 »

Macon — When she was a freshman, the announcer at St. Pius hung the nickname on Asia Durr. She was “Asia-the-Amaze-You.” Rarely over her two-year career has she failed to live up to that billing and Saturday in the Class AAA championship game she was at times hard to believe.

The sophomore guard shot it effectively, threw some no-look passes that caused the crowd to visibly gasp and led the No. 3 Golden Lions to a 77-55 over No. 9 Dawson County at the Macon Coliseum and its first state championship since 2007.

“I’m lost. I don’t feel anything yet,” Durr said after getting 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. “Without my teammates, I don’t think I’d be here. They gave me the rock and I scored.”

She had plenty of help, too. Junior Jasmine Carter, her running mate at guard and teammate on a national AAU championship team, had 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Mackenzie Garrison added 11 points, which included …

Continue reading Class AAA girls: St. Pius 77, Dawson County 55 »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

Sometimes gambles work. Sometimes they don’t. But there comes a time when they are necessary to try.

Such was the case for Greenforest Christian Academy in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Class A private school final against St. Francis. After a miserable third quarter in which the Eagles were outscored 11-4 and were limited to just five shots due to the Knights’ strategic move to pull the ball out on offense and shorten the game, Greenforest head coach David Jones decided to gamble and go to a half court trap to speed up the game in the final period.

The move paid off, as the Eagles forced some key turnovers, quickened the pace of the game and outscored the Knights 23-9 in the fourth quarter, en route to a 55-41 win and the east metro school’s first state title.

“Sometimes you have to take some risks, some gambles if things aren’t going your way, and that’s what we needed to do,” Jones said of his decision to force the issue …

Continue reading Class A Boys (Private) Final — Greenforest 55, St.Francis 41 »

MACON – She’s not a scorer by nature, and she only had 4 points when she got the ball with 12 seconds left, down by 2 points, 80 feet from the basket.

But somebody had to score. And it might as well be the junior.

Jade Davis drove the length of the court to tie the game with 7.8 seconds left. Then, No. 2 St. Francis hit eight straight free throws in overtime to beat No. 1 Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy 62-56 for the Class A Private championship.

It’s the first basketball state title in school history for St. Francis (24-8), who also upset SACA (28-4) in the Region 6 final last month.

When Amber Brown’s free throw went off the mark with 14 seconds left, Davis knew the Knights had a chance when the ball fell into her hands.

Described as a “defensive specialist” by coach Alisha Kennedy, she wasn’t the most likely candidate to drive all the way for a crucial basket, but she was ready when the opportunity came her way.

“I don’t normally look to score,” …

Continue reading A Private Girls: St. Francis 62, SACA 56 »

Macon – Miller Grove made history on Friday night when it became the first Georgia High School Association boys basketball team to win five straight state championships.

The No. 1-ranked Wolverines did it by taking down No. 8 Gainesville 61-57 on Friday night at the Macon Coliseum. The victory allowed Miller Grove to break a tie with Lanier (1925-28) and Westover (1990-93), the other programs that had won four straight titles.

Miller Grove (30-3) was led by freshman Alterique Gilbert with 19 points, Keith Pickney with 14 and Earl Bryant with 13. Gainesville (23-10) got 19 points and eight rebounds from Shanquan Cantrell, 13 points from Luke Moore and 12 from Deshaun Watson.

“I can’t be more proud of these guys,” said Miller Grove coach Sharman White. “We’re trying to be the best program in the nation, not just the best in Georgia.”

The Wolverines completed the season without losing to another Class AAAAA team. They finished the season with a 19-game winning …

Continue reading Class AAAAA boys: Miller Grove 61, Gainesville 57 »

Southwest DeKalb led by as many 14 points in the second half but had to survive a last-minute rally by 2012 champion Miller Grove for a 56-52 victory in the Class AAAAA girls basketball final on Friday at the Macon Centreplex.

It is the fourth championship in seven years for the Panthers, who also won titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Southwest DeKalb (24-8) also became the seventh team from DeKalb County in eight years to win the championship in the second-highest classification.

The game was the fifth meeting of the year between the Region 6-AAAAA rivals. Miller Grove won the first three during the regular season before Southwest DeKalb won in the region and state tournament finals.

The second half was filled with swings in momentum. Southwest DeKalb outscored Miller Grove 10-0 over the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter to build a 34-20 lead, taking advantage of Miller Grove’s 0-for-11 shooting and four turnovers to start the half. Miller Grove answered with …

Continue reading Class AAAAA girls: Southwest DeKalb 56, Miller Grove 52 »

Macon – The Greater Atlanta Christian boys had been in a few battles like this. They had already endured one of the most ambitious schedules in the state. So when Bleckley County erased a big lead, made a run and tied the game late in the third quarter, the Spartans never blinked. The result was a 69-52 win in the Class AA championship game.

Bleckley tied the game 40-40, much to the delight of the partisan, purple-clad fans from nearby Cochran that flooded the Macon Coliseum. GAC just kept grinding, kept scoring and kept denying and wound up outscoring the Royals 29-12 the rest of the way.

“We weren’t going to be denied,” said GAC guard Collin Swinton, one of only two seniors on the roster. “We had worked too hard and been through too much.”

It is the third championship in four seasons for No. 1-ranked GAC, which has been motivated since its untimely exit in the second round a year ago. The Spartans (29-3) have now won six championships. No. 9 Bleckley County …

Continue reading Class AA boys: GAC 69, Bleckley County 52 »

The Wesleyan Wolves are champions again, and for the sixth consecutive season it wasn’t even close.

Wesleyan got 28 points from Katie Frerking and routed second-ranked Laney 76-43 in the Class AA final Friday at the Macon Centreplex to become the second girls basketball team in state history to win six straight championships, matching Hart County’s streak from 1989-1994. It was the ninth title in 10 seasons for the Wolves and the 10th in 12 years.

“Every time we come here it seems like the first time,” Wesleyan coach Jan Azar said. “There’s nerves, and everybody’s excited. One of my freshmen came in this morning and said, ‘Coach Azar, it’s my first state championship game.’ That just reminded me that for some of these kids it’s their first, and for the majority of them it’s their first time contributing to a state championship. They’ve sat and waited their turn, and it was their turn today.”

During the Wolves’ current six-year run, no state final …

Continue reading Class AA girls: Wesleyan 76, Laney 43 »