MILLEDGEVILLE – In the Class AAA semifinals at Georgia College, Saturday belonged to Buford as both the boys and girls teams coasted to easy wins, with neither team trailing at any point in their games.
The Wolves (27-5) and the Lady Wolves (30-2) will head to the Macon Centerplex next Saturday, Mar. 8 for the Class AAA title game, with the Lady Wolves playing at 3 p.m. against the winner of Beach-St. Pius, while the Wolves will play the winner of Johnson (Savannah) and Morgan County at 4:45 p.m.
The boys’ team – led by a dominating performance from Rakim Lubin – marched to a 92-76 win over the Callaway Cavaliers and is seeking the program’s first championship in school history. Later, the Lady Wolves beat the Pike County Lady Pirates 63-46 and will aim for their fourth state title in the last six years.
In the boys’ game, Lubin led all scorers with 37 points and added 15 rebounds – including 8 on the offensive end – and five blocks. He energized the crowd with five monster dunks, and with his 6-foot-8, 250-pound frame, was a constant presence in the paint, helping to shut down the Cavs’ inside game while on defense, and creating easy baskets for teammates like D’Marcus Simonds (30 points) on offense.
“I just wanted to do what it took for my team to win,” said Lubin, who on Friday signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Connecticut. “I knew if we were going to win this game, I’d have to get rebounds and blocked shots to execute and finish strong on the offensive end.”
The Wolves were simply too much for a young, undersized Cavs team with three underclassmen in their starting lineup. The Wolves led 39-17 at halftime and withstood a Cavs run that pulled Calloway to within 49-41 with 2:59 remaining in the third.
The Cavs (19-6) were led by sophomore Dre Martin’s 24 points.
In the girls’ game, Pike County stayed with the Lady Wolves through the first quarter as Buford led 17-13. But the Lady Wolves pulled away behind the play of Camille Anderson (20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds), and Bre Horrocks, a 6-foot-5 senior committed to Purdue. Horrocks(14 points, 11 rebounds) is the lone holdover from the Lady Wolves last state title in 2011.
“I think we’re playing pretty well right now,” said Anderson, a junior. “I think we can do some things better, but right now we’re doing the best we can. ...We’ve just got to win the next game and that’s all we’re thinking about.”
The Lady Pirates (24-7), who were playing in the program’s first semifinals game, were led by Kristen Beckham (14 points) and Shaineequah Fluellyn (12 points).
Send Adam Krohn an email at AdamKrohnAJC@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter.
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