The Milton boys basketball team finished the regular season with an 89-55 win over Alpharetta and an 82-61 victory over Campbell. But neither of these Region 6-AAAAA wins, impressive as they may seem, did anything for their seeding in the upcoming region tournament. The Eagles will have a tough go of it as the No. 2 seed in their subregion. They most likely will have to defeat a determined Walton team that has been ranked in the top 10 most of the year in the quarterfinals. The other possible quarterfinal matchup would be against Campbell, which will be looking for revenge from its loss last Monday. Should they make it past one of those two potential games, they would have to beat Centennial, the region’s top seed and a team that beat the Eagles badly in their last meeting, a 77-55 thrashing at Milton.
Despite being ranked first in the state nearly the entire season, Milton might be going home as early as this weekend and missing the postseason, as only the region semifinals participants make it to the state playoffs. However, first-team all-region players Julian Royal and Shannon Scott will likely have something to say about that.
BOYS HOOPS RUNDOWN …
Westlake finished the regular season on a roll with convincing wins over East Coweta and Lovejoy. The victories put their winning streak at eight and improved their overall record to 23-2. Their 17-1 region mark was good enough to make them the top seed in the Region 2-AAAAA region tournament. Going into the postseason, the Lions could be the team to beat. They finished ranked No. 1 in the AJC final regular season poll.
Speaking of teams to beat, Centennial has been nearly unbeatable this season. The Knights earned the top seed in the 6-AAAAA tournament this weekend with victories over Lassiter, 53-49, and Roswell, 79-57. In the Roswell game, the Knights were led in scoring by senior center Vincent Bailey, who had 19 points. Bailey was followed by his teammate Devonta White with 15 points. White and Bailey were both named to the all-region team, voted on by the coaches. Centennial is the favorite in the tough Region 6-AAAAA tournament that includes the likes of Milton and Walton. The task is tough in this region, but the Knights will have home court on their side for the beginning rounds of the tournament and that might just make the difference.
ON THE GIRLS SIDE …
The Milton girls clinched the top seed in their region tournament despite a loss to Campbell last week, 47-45. In fact, the top seed has been wrapped up for a few weeks now. The Lady Eagles went 11-1 in region 6B-AAAAA and 17-5 overall. The teams in the region tournament will be challenging, and should they make it to the championship game of the tournament, the same Campbell team could be waiting.
Much like the boys team, the Lady Lions of Westlake are the top seed in their Region 2-AAAAA tournament. The girls have enjoyed a nine-game winning streak to finish the regular season and put them in this position. Seniors Sharnea Boykin and Danielle Spencer have led the team in nearly every game. They are both averaging close to 15 points a game and Boykin has had a few games this season with double-digit assist totals. Finishing at 18-3 overall and 17-1 in the region is quite a feat, but Westlake is far from done this year.
The Holy Innocents’ girls team will be the top seed in the 5A-A tournament at Pace Academy this week. The 67-22 win over Galloway last week clinched the top spot for the Lady Bears. Senior shooting guard Alex Williams averaged 16 points per game in the teams’ last three contests and will be relied on to provide that same scoring punch in the postseason.
INCLEMENT WEATHER …
Many of the scheduled meets and games were postponed this past week due to the unusual winter weather around Atlanta. The state swim meet was originally scheduled for Feb. 12-14 was then moved to this past Tuesday through Thursday. The meet was hosted by Westminster for the ninth straight year.
The state wrestling sectionals were set for Feb. 12-13, but then were moved to this past Monday and Tuesday. Those plans were scrapped as well, however, and now the sectionals for Class 2A through 5A essentially will be held at Gwinnett Arena as an extra day was added on to the state meet. This creates an impromptu play-in situation for the wrestlers. Each class will be split into its usual weight classes as part of the 32-man bracket tournament. The state meet officially started on Wednesday with weigh-ins and will run through Saturday.
Deighton can be reached at jdeighton@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
