The Lakeside-Evans boys basketball team surged to the top of the Class AAAAAA rankings and took sole possession of first place in Region 3 with a 67-56 victory over rival Evans in a battle of top-three teams in front of a packed house Friday night at Evans.
Lakeside climbed two spots to No. 1 after the win, which gave the Panthers a 16-2 overall record and a 4-0 mark in region play. Evans (17-1, 3-1) dropped to No. 4 after its first loss of the season and fell a game behind the Panthers in the region standings.
Evans rallied from a 40-29 deficit in the third quarter and pulled even at 49-49 with 4:30 remaining, but Lakeside pulled away with a 10-4 run. Kalen Williams scored 20 points and Tyshun Briscoe had 19 for Lakeside. Christian Chambers led Evans with 15 points, and Cameron Cabarrus had 12.
The teams will meet again on Jan. 29 at Lakeside in a game that could decide the No. 1 seed for the upcoming region tournament.
Here are some of the other top stories from Class AAAAAA basketball last week:
*Hughes getting hot: The two-time defending state champion Hughes boys team is coming off its best week of the season. The Panthers picked up three victories in Region 5, including two against teams ranked in the top 10, to end a four-game losing streak. Hughes beat then-No. 5 Alexander 73-68 in double overtime on Tuesday, then followed it up with weekend victories against sixth-ranked Tri-Cities 64-58 (the Bulldogs' first loss in region play) and Creekside 60-47. Although the Panthers (8-10, 6-4) dug themselves an early hole in region play, the three-game winning streak moved them into fourth place in the nine-team region.
*Milestone for Austin: Senior forward Ashlee Austin became the first player in Northview girls basketball history to surpass 1,000 career rebounds when she pulled down 10 Saturday in a 55-44 loss to Hoover, the top-ranked team in Alabama. Austin, a Rice signee and first-team all-state selection last season, also scored 14 points against Hoover for her seventh double-double of the season. She is averaging a team-leading 14.0 points and 8.4 points for the Titans, who are 13-4 and ranked No. 3 in Class AAAAAA. Northview is in first place in Region 7 with a 9-0 record but faces a big test Friday against second-place Alpharetta, which is a half-game back.
*Going down to the wire: The battle for the No. 1 girls seed in Region 4 turned into a two-team race when Forest Park routed third-place Stephenson 65-31 on Tuesday. Defending champion and top-ranked Lovejoy (17-3, 11-0) and second-place Forest Park (18-2, 10-1) now have some breathing room at the top of the standings. Lovejoy is undefeated against Georgia competition, suffering its only losses against DeSoto and Duncanville of Texas and Riverdale of Tennessee, all of which are ranked in the top 35 nationally. Forest Park's losses came against Lovejoy (58-56 in overtime on Dec. 8) and Miami Country Day, ranked No. 6 nationally by MaxPreps.
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