The high school basketball regular season came to a close earlier this week, with a number of region games getting made up after winter weather postponements the previous weekend. Now a host of DeKalb County teams will battle it out for state playoff berths and seeding in region tournaments statewide.
The competition will be especially fierce in Region 6-AAAA, where a slew of county teams appear deserving of a spot in state, but only four will advance in the tournament, which will be held at Marist. Among the favorites is Miller Grove, which has won 14 games in a row en route to a 6B-AAAA subregion title, and handily beat a Tucker team that looked to be its closest competition last week. Senior power forward Donte Williams is the senior star for a young squad that struggled early in the season before hitting its stride just before the new year.
Meanwhile, the Tigers finished the season with a few questions to answer. They have struggled when tested by quality teams over the last month, including difficult losses to Lakeside-DeKalb and Marist. Someone must step up for Tucker as a go-to scorer this weekend if the Tigers want a tournament title.
Chamblee won the subregion title in 6A-AAAA, and is likely the strongest team coming out of that side of the league. No one will want to face the Bulldogs, as Mercer signee Langston Hall and leading scorer David Mason provide perhaps the top backcourt tandem in the region.
While those three teams are favored to feature as three of the four playoff teams from the region, the real battle should be for the fourth and final position. Marist and Lakeside are the two most likely candidates. The War Eagles closed the season strong with three wins, but struggled with consistency all season en route to a 7-6 conference record. It’s been a while since Lakeside tasted the state tournament, but dynamic scoring point guard Sheldon Strickland could lead them to the promised land. Don’t forget about a much-improved Southwest DeKalb team, which upset Chamblee and gave Tucker and Miller Grove serious tests over the last few weeks.
The Region 6-AAAA championship games for girls and boys will be held at Marist on Saturday.
HOOPS AROUND THE COUNTY …
Dunwoody and Columbia saw their season-ending showdown cancelled due to weather. But the 5-AAA foes could easily hook up in their region tournament this week. The Eagles were undefeated and hardly tested in region play behind the steady play of JerShon Cobb, a three-year starter that has been one of the top point guards in DeKalb for quite some time. It’s not your typical Dunwoody team in terms of size and athleticism, but seniors Javon McKay and Darrell Strozier have helped bridge the gap. Keep an eye on a young Druid Hills that was much better down the stretch, and even upset Dunwoody recently. Lamar Dubose provides a source of experience and scoring in the post for the Red Devils.
In Class 2A, the Decatur Bulldogs still must prove themselves after a blowout loss to Blessed Trinity to end the season. The Bulldogs were 9-4 in region play, but all four losses came to Greater Atlanta Christian and Blessed Trinity, making them the clear-cut third-place team.
The Redan Lady Raiders are still undefeated in their league, but were tested a bit more than expected with several close wins in 2-AAAAA. Stephenson figure to be their greatest competition, although Alisha Andrews and company have beaten the Jaguars handily in both meetings, including a 71-46 blowout on Feb. 9.
CHAMPIONSHIPS AFFECTED …
Snowy conditions forced the rescheduling of most events taking place in the metro area last weekend. One of them was the state swimming finals, which wrapped up this Tuesday and Thursday.
As for wrestling, sectional tournaments were cancelled altogether due to adverse weather. The state tournaments will continue through Saturday at the Gwinnett Arena with finals in all classifications and weight classes.
Soccer season is just getting underway, and Marist is again among the top boys and girls teams. Both were ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. Also in the mix are the Lakeside boys, who were ranked No. 3.
Meanwhile, St. Pius’ boys and girls also garnered No. 1 rankings in the preseason polls in 3A. The Druid Hills girls were ranked No. 10 after a second-round state tournament appearance last season.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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