By — Seth Ellerbee
The Georgia General Assembly took portions of Cherokee and Gilmer Counties to create Pickens County in 1853. Canadian-American James Naismith invented basketball 38 years later and it seems the Pickens natives have been honing their games ever since.
Ok, that might not be historically accurate and I’m sure it took some time for the sport to reach the foothills of the northern part of the state.
But once basketball did enter the realm of daily life in Pickens County, it stuck.
That area of the state – a few hours directly north of downtown Atlanta — produces high-quality, top-tier basketball talent and has for generations. And this season, with the Pickens boys team at 16-0 and ranked No. 3 in the class, and the girls program 15-1 and ranked atop their respective standings, it’s more of the same.
If the country were compressed down to be the size of Georgia, the basketball-haven of Indiana would likely end up centering around the Hall, Cherokee and Pickens County areas, which are oddly enough one of the state’s basketball-rich locations.
“I am originally from Indiana and Pickens is my Indiana,” said boys head coach Robert Martin, an Indiana-native who enjoyed stints at several Georgia schools before landing the Pickens head coaching job two seasons ago. He’s seen the best basketball in Indiana and has seen many places around the state of Georgia.
He notices similarities.
“I think the cool part is that we have one high school and it’s been there forever,” he said. “So you have generations of people and the kids really love basketball. The community loves basketball, and they come to watch us play and support us. Dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, fathers and mothers all with ties to the Pickens program.”
The boys team – who trail Cedar Grove and Cross Creek in the poll – have never won a state title and the girls have four — 1950, 1951, 1954 and 1974. The boys surely have an eye on greatness. But that’s not at the forefront.
“I don’t know what the ceiling is for the team. I am not a good gauge of that. I am just trying to catch up with the girls,” Martin said, offering respect to the top-ranked girls program coached by Jordan Shaw, a Pickens-alumnus who scored over 1,000 points in his career as a Dragon. “But I think it might be dangerous to tell people what you think the ceiling is because, I don’t ever want to know. I just want to keep getting better.”
Martin might only be in his second season as the head coach and Shaw in his first, but with the innate ties to Pickens which Shaw has exhibited, Martin knows the depth which the love for basketball runs in the region.
He’s seen it firsthand and, likely, heard about Shaw’s coaching prowess around the dinner table.
“My daughter (Bella) plays for the girls team and coach Shaw is in his first year over there,” Martin said. “He’s done a great job, and we get along so well and get into deep talks about basketball and life. This is a young guy who puts in a ton of work.”
Both the boys and girls are 6-0 in Region 6 play heading into Tuesday’s matchup against Dawson County.
For the boys, the starting five are each averaging double-digits for a high-scoring offense centered around twins Dodge and Parker Davis, a pair of 6-foot-7, 180-pound big men. Dodge is scoring 18 points per game while Parker adds 11 points. It’s no surprise the two behemoths lead the team in rebounds with Parker averaging eight per game and Dodge grabbing six per game.
“When we get more rebounds, that’s phenomenal,” he said of his big men and the ease of coaching them. “Our rebounding stat that we keep track of, typically speaking, you are looking at 30 percent offensive rebounds to 70 percent defensive. We are around 40 percent offensive rebounds. Which is huge. Huge. And they can both move like shooting guards.”
There’s junior point guard McCord Purdy, who is scoring 10.3 points and a team-leading six assists per game, senior shooting guard Brock Barton, who adds 11 points per game, and senior shooting guard Caleb Langford who adds 13.3 points per game.
“We are averaging just a touch over 77 points per game and our opponents are scoring around 44 points,” said Martin. “McCord does a great job of running things. I think we had 22 assists the other night and he had 11 of them. He takes more pride in passing than he does shooting. He could go out and score 20 every night and is a pretty strong kid.”
But it’s not just the Dodge/McCord show.
“Brock Martin, he scored 28 the other night and Dodge had 24 points the previous game,” Martin said. “We went down to St. Simons for a tournament and Parker led us in scoring for those games. And Dodge, against White County, had nine threes in the first half and was 9-of-11 shooting on the night. And his teammates were really looking for him, too.”
The boys are coming off an 87-30 victory against Johnson-Gainesville on Jan. 7 and an 87-60 victory against Class 1A-3A Private No. 8 Greater Atlanta Christian Thursday. The girls’ only loss was 36-34 to Rome on Dec. 28. Since, they’ve won five straight including a 57-47 victory against Class 1A-3A Private No. 8 Greater Atlanta Christian Thursday.
Around the state for the boys – Cedar Grove (13-3, 5-0) is ranked atop the class and will travel to Region 5 rival Douglass-Atlanta (10-2, 4-0) Tuesday in a battle of the league front-runners. Junior Emmanuel Green (19 points), senior Yusef Bowyer (14 points), senior Keith Gillespie (12 points) and junior Javonte Floyd (10 points) pace the Saints. Douglass is led by senior Chris Jones (18 points), sophomore Malachi Edgell (11 points), junior Battle Brandon (10 points) and sophomore Jaimarion Mathis (9 points). … Johnnson-Savannah’s 6-foot-2 senior guard Favion Kirkwood is averaging a class-leading 20.3 points per game ahead of Gilmer’s JD Taylor (20.1), Adairsville’s Tre Winters (19.5) and Groves’ Tyrone Chisholm (19.3). …
Around the state for the girls — No. 5-ranked Oconee County (12-5, 2-1) travels to No. 9 Cherokee Bluff (14-4, 3-0) Tuesday for a key Region 8 game. The Warriors are ranked higher but trail the undefeated Bears in the league standings. Since losing to Chestatee 49-47 on Dec. 21, Cherokee Bluff has beaten five straight teams including two big region victories against West Hall (76-22) on Jan. 7 and East Hall (62-40) Thursday. Senior Julie Azeltine averages 16 points with five rebounds and three assists for Oconee County. … Monroe’s Kie’Aundria Acree leads the class in scoring with 31 points per game ahead of Beach’s Mariah Reid (27 points), Sandy Creek’s Morghan Reckley (25 points) and Dougherty’s Jatiana Chambers (20 points).
See the Class 3A Top 10 schedules below.
Class 3A Boys
1. Cedar Grove – Tuesday at No. 7 Douglass-Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.; Friday vs. Riverdale, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday vs. North Clayton, 4:30 p.m.
2. Cross Creek – Tuesday vs. Hephzibah, 7:30 p.m.; Friday vs. Richmond Academy, Jan. 21 at No. 9 Baldwin
3. Pickens – Tuesday at Dawson County, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Chestatee, 8:30 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Lumpkin County, 7:30 p.m.
4. Cherokee Bluff – Tuesday vs. Oconee County, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Jefferson, Jan. 24 vs. Monroe Area, 7:30 p.m.
5. Sandy Creek – Tuesday vs. LaGrange, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Upson-Lee, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at Fayette County, 6 p.m.
6. East Hall – Tuesday vs. Jefferson, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at West Hall, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 24 at Oconee County, 7:30 p.m.
7. Douglass – Tuesday vs. No. 1 Cedar Grove, 7:30 p.m.; Thursday vs. Mt. Zion, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Stephenson, 7:30 p.m.
8. Windsor Forest – Tuesday at Long County, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Liberty County, 7 p.m.; Jan. 24 vs. Groves, 7:30 p.m.
9. Baldwin – Tuesday at Harlem, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday vs. Tucker, 1 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Cross Creek, 7:30 p.m.
10. Westside-Augusta – Tuesday at West Laurens, 7 p.m.; Friday vs. Harlem, 7 p.m.; Jan. 24 vs. Cross Creek, 7 p.m.
Class 3A Girls
1. Pickens – Tuesday at No. 10 Dawson County, 6 p.m.; Friday at Chestatee, 7 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Lumpkin County, 6 p.m.
2. Baldwin – Tuesday at Harlem, 6 p.m.; Monday vs. North Paulding, 6:25 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Cross Creek, 6 p.m.
3. Jefferson – Tuesday at East Hall, 6 p.m.; Friday vs. Cherokee Bluff, 7 p.m.; Monday vs. Galloway, 9 a.m.
4. Luella – Tuesday vs. Stephenson, 6 p.m.; Friday vs. North Clayton, 6 p.m.; Monday vs. TBA (MLK Classic at Luella).
5. Oconee County – Tuesday at No. 9 Cherokee Bluff, 6 p.m.; Friday vs. Monroe Area, 6 p.m.; Saturday vs. Madison County, 3 p.m.
6. Fayette County – Friday at Spalding, 6 p.m.; Saturday vs. Sandy Creek, 4:30 p.m.; Jan. 21 at LaGrange, 6 p.m.
7. White County – Tuesday vs. Lumpkin County, 6 p.m.; Friday vs. North Hall, 7 p.m.; Jan. 21 at Chestatee, 6 p.m.
8. Sandy Creek – Tuesday at LaGrange, 6 p.m.; Friday at Upson-Lee, 6 p.m.; Saturday at No. 6 Fayette County, 4:30 p.m.
9. Cherokee Bluff – Tuesday vs. No. 5 Oconee County, 7:30 p.m.; Friday at Jefferson, 8:30 p.m.; Jan. 24 vs. Monroe Area, 7:30 p.m.
10. Dawson County – Tuesday vs. No. 1 Pickens, 6 p.m.; Friday vs. Johnson-Gainesville, 7 p.m.; Jan. 21 vs. Class 1A-3A Private No. 8 GAC, 6 p.m.
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