East Cobb vs. North Fulton was the theme on Friday night as the Walton Raiders traveled to Roswell to face the Centennial Knights in what could arguably be the best game of the year when it comes to Region 6-AAAAA. It was a game where the stars were on display, as Glen Rice Jr. led the Raiders against NC State commit Lorenzo Brown. The battle went back and forth but it was the Knights’ Ryan Fleming coming up with the game-winning layup with one second left to give the Knights the 91-90 victory.
Rice knocked down a basket with six seconds left after Scott Newton missed two free throws and Rice was able to come up with the offensive rebound. But with the up-tempo offense that the Knights run, Fleming was able to lay it in on a 2-to-1 break. But the Raiders could have been cooked after the second quarter if it wasn’t for Rice. Going into the half, Walton was down by 12 and it was all due to the Knights’ Brown and Kamrem Belin’s ability to drive to the hole and get easy baskets. But Rice took the game over in the third, scoring seven consecutive points and to tie the game at 56. At the end of the third, Centennial still led by four, but Rice and Ryan Harrow propelled the Raiders in the fourth quarter and were able to keep the Raiders very much alive.
What this game showed is that there is very little that separates both these teams. Each squad has elite players, can play up-tempo on offense and can play smothering defense (even if both teams scored 90 points against each other). It was a playoff atmosphere as the crowd was on its feet for the entire game. In fact, it almost reminded you of the classic Norcross-Wheeler games where the gym would be packed from end to end. This will be the only time that both these teams face in the regular season but there is the feeling that they will meet again later in the year.
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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