Basketball rankings: Lakeside-Evans, Fayette County ascend to No. 1

Lakeside-Evans and Fayette County are new No. 1 teams in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s boys basketball rankings.

Lakeside beat crosstown rival Evans, the previous No. 1 team, 67-56 on the road Friday night in Region 3-AAAAAA. Kalen Williams had 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the Columbia County showdown.

Neither Lakeside nor Evans has much tradition in basketball. Lakeside won its first state-playoff game last year and made the quarterfinals, and Evans hasn’t advanced a round since 2010. But it’s a volatile year in AAAAAA as 2018 finalists Hughes and Gainesville are unranked.

Lakeside (16-2) has lost to out-of-state opponents North Augusta of South Carolina and Camel Christian of North Carolina. Evans (17-1) had been undefeated.

In AAAAA, previous No. 1 Buford (15-2) suffered a stunning upset to unranked Loganville, which entered just 8-8 overall and 1-3 in Region 8. Buford had lost previously only to Camel Christian, the No. 2 overall team in North Carolina according to MaxPreps. Loganville’s Jamar Moore had 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in the 59-54 victory in Buford’s gym.

Fayette County (16-2) moves into the No. 1 spot. The Tigers’ only losses are No. 3 East Coweta and No. 10 Westlake, both from the highest classification.

East Coweta was a big mover in Class AAAAAAA after defeating previous No. 3 Wheeler 81-78 on Thursday. East Coweta is the new No. 3, which is probably the school’s highest ranking in decades as the Indians haven’t won a state-playoff game since 1971. East Coweta guard Fernandez Jones didn’t miss a shot in the Wheeler game as he was 4-of-4 on 3-pointers and 14-of-14 on free throws for 26 points.

Also newsworthy in the highest class was victory No. 300 for Newton head coach Rick Rasmussen. His No. 7 Rams beat Eastside 74-65 on Saturday night, giving him 300 wins against 90 losses 14 seasons in Covington.

With only three weeks remaining before region tournaments, only McEachern (AAAAAAA), Woodville-Tompkins of Savannah (AA) and Calhoun County (A public) remain perfect. McEachern (14-0) is ranked No. 2 nationally in the MaxPreps’ Xcellent 25. Aside from Evans, previously undefeated Christian Heritage of Dalton lost twice last week and fell out of the Class A private-school rankings.

The state tournament begins Feb. 15.

Class AAAAAAA

1 McEachern (14-0)

2 Meadowcreek (15-4)

3 East Coweta (18-1)

4 Grayson (16-2)

5 Pebblebrook (13-6)

6 Wheeler (14-6)

7 Newton (14-3)

8 Norcross (12-7)

9 Discovery (17-3)

10 Westlake (11-7)