No. 1 Grayson (20-1, 6-1) and No. 3 Shiloh – both 20-1 overall, 6-1 in region play - will meet Friday at Shiloh. The winner is likely the regular-season champion of Region 8-AAAAAAA. Grayson has won 12 straight games. Shiloh has won five straight since its only loss – to Grayson on Jan. 3.
Here’s more on the comings and goings of some of Class AAAAAAA’s best teams this week:
BOYS
*Grayson beat Crestwood Prep of Canada 77-61 at the Kevin Durant MLK Showcase in Virginia on Monday. Grayson faces Shiloh on Friday, then Ramsay of Birmingham on Saturday in the Peachtree Corners Invitational at Norcross. Ramsay is ranked No. 2 in Alabama’s Class 5A.
*No. 2 Norcross will play Cardinal Newman of South Carolina in the PCI on Saturday. Cardinal Newman, a small private school, is the No. 1-ranked team in South Carolina’s Class SCISA AAA rankings.
*No. 4 Milton (16-4, 6-0) can move closer to the No. 1 seed in Region 5 with a victory tonight against Lambert (14-7, 4-2). Milton also travels to No. 6 Wheeler on Saturday for a non-region game.
*No. 5 McEachern lost to the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, Montverde Academy of Florida, 94-65 on Monday in Massachusetts. McEachern (13-5, 5-0) is Georgia’s defending Class AAAAAAA champion. The Indians should wrap up the No. 1 seed in Region 3 this week.
*Two top-10 teams from AAAAAAA played some of AAAAAA’s best on Monday in the MLK Classic at Maynard Jackson. They came up empty in two close ones. No. 7 Archer lost to No. 3 Hughes 54-53 on a shot just before the buzzer. No. 9 East Coweta lost to No. 4 Tri-Cities 77-73.
GIRLS
*No. 1 Westlake (19-2, 6-0) is cruising toward the top seed in Region 2 with only region opponents remaining. It might be next week before the deed is done, though. That’s when No. 6 Campbell and Pebblebrook are slated. Both are 16-5, 4-2. Westlake, with losses only to out-of-state teams, is ranked No. 19 nationally in the Xcellent 25. Westlake is the two-time defending Georgia AAAAAAA team.
*No. 2 Collins Hill beat Wesleyan, the No. 5 Class A private-school team, 71-50 in the MLK Classic at Holy Innocents’ on Monday. All that remains to a 25-0 regular season are Region 6 opponents, and none has come within 20 points of the Eagles so far. Collins Hill was the 2019 runner-up to Westlake.
*No. 3 Cherokee (20-2, 7-0) made the semifinals last season for the first time since 1987, and the prospects for a repeat of that are good. The Warriors can clinch Region 4 tonight with a victory at Walton. Cherokee won the first meeting between the two 67-32. Cherokee’s losses are to No. 4 North Forsyth in November and undefeated St. Joseph Central, the No. 1 overall team in West Virginia.
*No. 4 North Forsyth, another 2019 semifinalist, avenged its only region loss, to West Forsyth, last week. The county rivals are tied atop Region 5 with 5-1 records. West Forsyth, ranked No. 7, lost again Monday to Holy Innocents’, the No. 3 team in Class A private.
