JONESBORO
26-6, REGION 4
The Cardinals’ roster of emerging stars withstood a remarkable 46-point performance from Alexander’s Hassani Gravett in the semifinals and held on for a 78-75 win in overtime. Now, the Cardinals need just one more win to bring home its first ever-state title. Jonesboro’s lineup has continued improving each week of the season, and since the start of this epic postseason run, the Cardinals are peaking at the right time. Elijah Wade was the first to elevate his production and the senior led the Cardinals in their 58-47 opening round win over Perry with a season-high 15 points to go with a season-high 14 rebounds.
The second round saw freshman sensation James Walker Jr. take center stage and he’s been lighting up the scoreboard ever since. Walker scored a career-high 24 points in the 62-45 second-round tilt with Worth County. Walker finished with 20 points in the quarterfinals win over Rutland, but it was an outstanding game from 6-foot-5 junior Tracey Hector Jr. that led the Cardinals. Hector finished with a season-high 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Junior point guard Austin Donaldson has also come to life in the postseason. After averaging 7.28 points per game in the regular season, Donaldson has averaged 16.8 points per game in the playoffs and is coming off back-to-back 20-plus point outputs. Walker remains the biggest offensive threat and he set a new career-high with 28 points and 12 rebounds in the semifinals. Walker reached the foul line a career-high 21 times in the semis and made 17 of the attempts. Jonesboro’s scoring combination of Walker, Wade, Hector and Donaldson gives the team plenty of options and head coach Dan Maehlman likes to let his squad come out running from the opening tip. Jonesboro has held the lead or taken a share of the lead entering the second half of each playoff game.
COLUMBIA
28-4, REGION 6
The Eagles are back in the finals for a fifth consecutive March and a win would give the program its sixth state title. Columbia fell short in last year’s championship to Eagle’s Landing and ended a streak of three consecutive titles. This year’s road to Macon has been challenging and the Eagles had to rally from a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit to Fayette County in the second round before escaping Westover in the semifinals on a Keuntay Puckett tip-in at the buzzer.
One of the major challenges to start this season was replacing point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen, who graduated and is now playing for Auburn. Shamsid-Deen was a three-time recipient of the AJC’s Class AAA Player of the Year and a major driving force of the school’s last three championships. Head coach Kerry Sandifer and the Eagles had to adapt to this year’s team strengths and as a result the Eagles are attacking defenses as well as they ever have. Guards Puckett and Anthony Rice were able to pickup the slack in the backcourt, while Maurice Rivers, Nick Singleton and Shadell Bell have helped Columbia dominate opponents in the paint.
In the second-round win over Fayette County, Columbia not only erased the nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 67-58, but the Eagles did so by scoring a whopping 27 points in the quarter despite only attempting three three-pointers the whole game. The Eagles made 20- of-25 free throws and used their ability to finish at the rim to spark the comeback. Singleton scored game-highs of 19 and 20 in the opening two rounds and four players finished in double-figures in the quarterfinals. Maurice Rivers led with 19 points and 22 rebounds and Singleton notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. In the semifinals, Puckett’s game-winning tip-in gave him a postseason-best 17 points.
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