Three No. 1-ranked basketball teams and four of the top five boys teams in Class AAAAAAA are playing this weekend in the 12-game Hawks-Naismith Holiday Classic at Norcross.
The No. 1 teams participating are Lovejoy’s girls (Class AAAAAA), Buford’s girls (AAAAA) and McEachern’s boys (AAAAAAA).
Buford will play host Norcross in the opener Friday at 3 p.m. Lovejoy will play Wesleyan, the fifth-ranked team in Class A Private, in the 7 p.m. game Friday.
McEachern’s boys, a defending state champion, will play No. 4 Grayson on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
McEachern (6-0) is ranked No. 10 nationally in the MaxPreps’ Excellent 25. Grayson (8-1) is No. 18. Both have highly rated point guard – Sharife Cooper of McEachern and Deivon Smith of Grayson. Cooper is committed to Auburn, Smith to Mississippi State.
The other top-five boys teams from the highest class participating are No. 2 Norcross, which plays No. 2 Tucker of AAAAAA on Saturday night, and No. 5 Milton, which plays Westside of Macon on Saturday.
Continuing the experiment at the Hawks-Naismith Tipoff Classic, which took place in November at Pace Academy, the GHSA will allow for the use of a 30-second shot clock for 11 of 12 games at this event.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. All students (K-12) and youth who attend will receive a free Atlanta Hawks t-shirt while supplies last.
On Saturday morning, the Hawks will host its free Jr. Hawks Basketball Clinic for 100 boys and girls at Norcross.
Friday
3 p.m. – Norcross vs. Buford (girls)
5:30 p.m. – Buford vs. Wesleyan (boys)
7 p.m. – Lovejoy vs. Wesleyan (girls)
8:30 p.m. – Chattahoochee vs. Pebblebrook (boys)
Saturday
10 a.m. - Brookwood vs. Maynard Jackson (girls)
11:30 a.m. – North Cobb vs. Campbell (girls)
1 p.m. – Westside-Macon vs. Milton (boys)
2:30 p.m. Central-Macon vs. Lambert (boys)
4:15 p.m. – Gainesville vs. Sandy Creek (boys)
5:45 p.m. – Discovery vs. Southwest DeKalb (boys)
7:15 p.m. – Grayson vs. McEachern (boys)
8:45 p.m. - Norcross vs. Tucker (boys)
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