Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category

When Jerron Love’s jumper didn’t fall, the celebration for Hillgrove began.

Kyle Castlin scored 20 points to help the Hawks barely held off No. 7 Wheeler when Love’s shot at the buzzer hit the front of the rim, giving No. 5 Hillgrove a 56-54 win in the Class AAAAAA semifinals.

This will be Hillgrove’s first trip to the state finals. Wheeler failed in its bid for a sixth state title under coach Doug Lipscomb.

The Hawks (27-4) never trailed after a 15-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarters gave them a 47-39 lead, but it was certainly close, particularly when Wheeler scored 7 straight to make it 49-48 with 3:23 left.

But Hillgrove had just enough gas in the tank, hitting 5 of 8 free throws, including 1 of 2 from Keith Ray with 6.1 seconds left that set up Love’s final attempt.

On that play, the key for Hillgrove was to protect from a loss at all costs. No threes. No easy baskets.

“Just don’t give up a three,” Hillgrove coach Ed Morris said. “If they go and …

Continue reading AAAAAA boys: Hillgrove 56, Wheeler 54 »

Norcross is still cranky after losing in last season’s state semifinals and the Blue Devils were so wary of a repeat upset in Saturday’s state AAAAAA semifinal against Langston Hughes that sublime senior guard Diamond DeShields referred to the contest as a possible, “David and Goliath game.”

The big kid(s) romped 62-16 in this one, as DeShields scored 15 of her 21 points in the first quarter while Norcross built a 28-7 lead. Then, the University of North Carolina signee and her teammates shut out the Panthers in the second quarter while building a 42-7 halftime bulge.

Norcross next Saturday will try to win its third state title in four seasons in the Blue Devils’ fourth game of the season against Region 7-AAAAAA rival North Gwinnett. North Gwinnett has a 2-1 edge, although Norcross is the only team to have beaten North Gwinnett (30-1).

Langston Hughes (26-3) can take solace in reaching the Final Four in the school’s fourth season of existence.

…

Continue reading Girls AAAAAA: Norcross Rolls into Final »

By Stephen Black

Score Atlanta

All of these games were played at Armstrong State University in Savannah.

BOYS

Class AAA

Johnson-Savannah 56, North Hall 34: Johnson-Savannah used runs in the second and third quarters to distance itself from No. 7 North Hall and romp into finals.

Eight points by LSU-signee Tim Quarterman keyed a 15-4 second-quarter run that helped give the No. 3 Atom Smashers a 22-17 half-time advantage. To start the third quarter, Johnson-Savannah went on a 10-2 run to take a commanding 32-17 lead with 5:25 left in the period.

Senior guard Greg Mortimer led the Atom Smashers with 20 points, while Quarterman finished with 18. Johnson-Savannah advances to the finals with a chance to win its first state championship in basketball since 1992.

Savannah 54, Buford 50: The Savannah Blue Jackets advanced to the state finals for the second consecutive season.

Jamal Norman scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Savannah, which led almost the entire game including a …

Continue reading Semifinals playoff roundup »

AAAA Girls: Sandy Creek 48, Mary Persons 23

For the second time in three seasons Cedric King has led a team to the state title game. While the teams are different, the style is the same: tough, relentless defense.

King’s unranked Patriots wore down No. 6 Mary Persons, holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the fourth quarter, en route to a 48-23 win in the first AAAA girls semi-final at Fort Valley State. In the end, Sandy Creek’s nine-player rotation drained the fight out of a scrappy Mary Person’s squad that went only six deep.

“We knew our defensive pressure would wear them down,” King said. “We just had to keep doing what we do.”

In the second half, the Bulldogs got as close as 24-19 late in the third period. But Keke Calloway’s free throw with a minute left in the period, which made the score 29-23, was the last point the Bulldogs would score in the contest. Sandy Creek closed the game on a 19-0 run and played keep-away during several stretches in the fourth quarter.

Sydney …

Continue reading AAAA Girls: Sandy Creek 48, Mary Persons 23 »

Third-ranked Miller Grove held Effingham County without a field goal for the game’s first 15 minutes and cruised to a 49-23 victory in the Class AAAAA girls basketball semifinals Saturday at Kennesaw State.

The victory puts Miller Grove back in the championship game after winning its first state title last year. The Wolverines (26-5) will play at 7 p.m. Friday at the Macon Centreplex.

Klarissa Weaver scored 11 of her team’s first 13 points as Miller Grove built a 25-10 halftime lead.

Effingham County had made just five free throws until Ebony Hicklen’s short jumper in the lane with 59 seconds to play in the second quarter cut the lead to 25-7. The Rebels (26-6) finished the game with just five field goals.

Weaver led Miller Grove with 15 points, and Tashi Thompson added 12. Jakayvea Akins led Effingham County with seven.

Effingham County (23): Maddie Evans 3, Jakayvea Akins 7, Aliyah Williams 2, Kyesha Lewis, 3, Aby Youmans 1, Ebony Hicklen 5, Shatrell Crawford 2, Brooke …

Continue reading Class AAAAA girls: Miller Grove 49, Effingham County 23 »

By S. Thomas Coleman
For the AJC

While not as thrilling as the early Class AA semifinal, in which No. 7 Bleckley County defeated No. 5 Jordan in overtime (64-62), but the Greater Atlanta Christian-Laney match up was just as entertaining.

In the end, No. 1 Greater Atlanta Christian outlasted No. 4 Laney, the defending champion, 64-56, in the second AA semifinal at Georgia College and State University.

The game remained tight throughout and was knotted at 27-27 after a three by GAC’s Cam Boyd to start the second half. The shot keyed a 10-4 run by the Spartans that put them up 37-31 midway through the third quarter.

Another three pointer by Boyd pushed the lead to 45-36 with just :20 seconds left in the period. But Laney’s Jashawn Brooks answered with a trey of his own just before the buzzer. That ignited a 9-2 run which gave Laney a 48-47 lead with six minutes to go in the forth quarter, after a bucket by the Wildcats’ Zeph Jasper.

But GAC’S out scored Laney 17-9 down the …

Continue reading AA Boys (Late): Greater Atlanta Christian 64, Laney 56 »

North Cobb’s boys basketball team, which plays Norcross today in the Class AAAAAA semifinals at Georgia Tech (8:30 p.m.), was expected to be a state contender this season after returning five starters from a 2012 quarterfinal team.

Then they were given little chance of winning this week when they played No. 1-ranked Tift County in the quarters. North Cobb was ranked No. 2.

North Cobb trailed by seven in the fourth quarter but won  68-63. North Cobb made all 15 of its free-throw attempts, and Jordan Neff scored 22 points.

‘’We knew it was going to be tough,’’ North Cobb coach Terry Gorsuch said. “We’d seen and heard how good they were and knew they played a national schedule, but at the same time, I thought we’d played a pretty demanding schedule ourselves. The key was we had to play well to give ourselves a chance. Except for a little stretch in the second quarter, I thought we played well.’’

The victory was part of a historic week at North Cobb as the …

Continue reading North Cobb boys answer doubts at Tift, now face Norcross »

Fort Valley — No. 5 Wilkinson took the lead for good with six minutes left in the first half and pulled away down the stretch.

Ten different players scored for the Warriors (29-2), who earned a shot at their third state title in seven years.

Torrico Simmons scored 25 to lead Wilkinson, which also got 13 from Derrick Trawick Jr.

Jenkins (18-9) led by as many as eight in the first quarter before Wilkinson got rolling. The Warriors closed the first period with an 11-4 run and pulled even at 19 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Jamerion Love.

Jenkins led 24-22 early in the second period before Trawick’s 3-pointer started a 12-1 run for Wilkinson, which led by as many ast 13 in the second half.

Justin Ellis scored 20 and Daniel Langston 16 for Jenkins County, which pulled within four at 66-62 with 5:26 left but got no closer.

Continue reading Class A Boys (Public): Wilkinson County 81, Jenkins County 65 »

No. 1-ranked Greenforest used its superior size to post a big lead and then overcame some horrendous free-throw shooting to hang on for a 60-55 win over No. 9 Athens Christian in the Class A – Private boys semfinal at Kennesaw State.

The Eagles (26-4) got 12 points, 17 rebounds and nine blocked shots from 6-foot-10 senior Tosin Meniti, a UAB signee, and was dominant on the inside. Faisal Abdul-Amlik added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Greenforest, which plays St. Francis for the state championship on Saturday at the Macon Coliseum.

“We felt like nobody could control him if we got the ball inside to him,” said Greenforest coach David Jones.

The plan worked well until the end of the fourth quarter when Greenforest was trying to hold onto a 16-point lead. Athens Christian, led by William “Turtle” Jackson, who scored 23 points and had seven rebounds, led an 11-0 run that cut the lead to 56-51.

Athens Christian was forced to foul to get the ball back and the strategy …

Continue reading A Private boys — Greenforest 60, Athens Christian 55 »

Marquita Daniels made four 3-pointers during a game-opening 18-2 run as Southwest Atlanta Christian rolled to a 78-43 victory over Holy Innocents’ in the Class A-Private girls basketball semifinals Friday at Kennesaw State.

The victory puts top-ranked Southwest Atlanta Christian (28-3) in the championship game against Region 6-A rival St. Francis at 11 a.m. on March 9 at the Macon Centreplex. Southwest Atlanta Christian will be making its second consecutive and third overall appearance in the championship game. The Warriors won the Class A title in 2006 and lost to Wesleyan in last year’s final.

Daniels scored her team’s first 12 points, all on 3-pointers, as Southwest Atlanta Christian jumped out to a 12-2 lead with 3:58 to play in the first quarter. The lead was 20-6 at the end of the quarter, and Holy Innocents’ got no closer the rest of the way.

Daniels finished with a game-high 19 points, another strong performance in her hot postseason. She is scoring 12.3 points …

Continue reading Class A girls (private): Southwest Atlanta Christian 78, Holy Innocents’ 43 »

Randolph-Clay 57, Wilkinson County 34: Kaneika Washington scored 21 points and Adriana Blackmon 12 as Randolph-Clay (29-2) pulled away with an early fourth-quarter run and earned a spot in the state finals.

The Lady Red Devils led by as m any as six on two occasions in the first half, then went 6:20 without a field goal in the third quarter, during which Wilkinson County (23-8) pulled even four times.

The Lady Warriors could not take the lead, and when cold in the fourth, when they scored just three points and did not make a field goal. .

Randolph-Clay, which extended its winning streak to 20 games, led 34-31 at the end of the third period, but scored the first 11 points in the fourth – spread among five different players – to break the game open.

Kobi Thornton added 10 points for Randolph-Clay.

Lyric Jordan scored 11 to lead Wilkinson County.

Continue reading Class A Girls (Public): Randolph-Clay 57, Wilkinson County 34 »

Jordan Jones, the only senior on the St. Francis roster, didn’t look nervous when he was standing on the free throw line in the final minutes. Inside was a different matter.

“I was nervous, but I knew I had to make them,” Jones said. “The whole team was depending on me.”

Jones went 4-for-4 in the final 1:31 and helped the No. 3 Knights hold off No. 2 Aquinas 61-56 in the semifinal of the Class A – Private boys tournament at Kennesaw State. St. Francis will play for the championship on March 9 at 12:45 p.m. at the Macon Coliseum.

Jones finished with eight points and seven rebounds. He was particularly proud his heroics came at Kennesaw, where he will play next year.

“It was a big thing for me,” Jones said. “We lost in the Elite Eight last year and it was a terrible feeling. I didn’t want it to happen again.”

St. Francis (24-8) got out to an early lead and held a 21-11 advantage after Malik Beasley made a 3-pointer. But Aquinas (23-7) simply would not go …

Continue reading A boy – Private: St. Francis 61, Aquinas 56 »

Fort Valley — In a game that included momentary second-quarter delay because half the lights in the Fort Valley State gym went out, Wilcox County (23-4) used an 18-2 third-quarter run to earn a spot in the state final.

Jonathan Howard scored 23 points and Makail Grace 18 for the Patriots.

Portal (22-8) led 35-32 after a 3-pointer by Tyler Budgett early in the third period, but a pair of threes by Grace sparked the big Wilcox run. The Patriots led by as many as 14 in the second half, that cominga t 55-41 with six minutes left.

Wilcox opened the game with a 5-0 run and sprinted to a 17-8 lead in the first quarter. Using hot perimeter shooting, Portal clawed back into the game. Robert Lee hit a pair of 3-pointers and Stacey Morgan added another in a 9-0 run that gave the Panthers their first lead at 30-27.

Morgan led Portal with 15 points, while Treston White had 13 and Lee finished with 11.

Continue reading Class A Boys (public): Wilcox County 65, Portal 56 »

St. Francis gave up a layup to Calvary Day’s Alexus Parker on the first possession of the Class A-Private girls basketball semifinals Friday at Kennesaw State.

It didn’t give up much else.

The Knights held Calvary Day to one more field goal in the next 16 minutes and cruised to a 50-27 victory to advance to the championship game at 11 a.m. on March 9 at the Macon Centreplex. It will be the first appearance in a state final for second-ranked St. Francis (23-8), the No. 3 seed in the private-school tournament.

“I’ve been talking all season about us playing strong defense, hard-nosed defense,” St. Francis coach Aisha Kennedy said. “We’re a small team, but we’re quick and well-conditioned, and that’s our strength. We’ve got to capitalize on that. I think we did a great job.”

St. Francis answered Parker’s initial basketball with a 14-0 run to take control of the game. The Knights did it by forcing turnovers and dominating the game inside, grabbing what …

Continue reading Class A girls (private): St. Francis 50, Calvary Day 27 »

Fort Valley — Kassidy Blevins scored 25 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, as Gordon Lee (24-7) pulled away late. Katelyn Lee added 11 for Gordon Lee, which beat Towns for the second time this season.

Making their first semifinal appearance, the Lady Trojans got 3-pointers from Kalei Kimbrell, Lee, and Katherine Chambers in the first quarter, after which they led 17-13. Grodon Lee ed 26-22 at halftime and 36-34 entering the fourth quarter, when Blevins took over.

Kimbrell added nine points for Gordon Lee.

Eryn Cochran scored 16 and Stephanie Patton 10 for Towns County (26-5).

Continue reading A Girls (Public): Gordon Lee 57, Towns County 49 »