Holiday Hoops: Lithonia holds off South Miami at Chick-fil-A Classic

Chick-fil-A Invitational

Lithonia 62, South Miami (FL) 58: Lithonia cruised to a 45-35 lead after the third quarter and survived after getting outscored by South Miami 23-17 in the final quarter to open the Chick-fil-A Classic with a victory Saturday afternoon at Tucker. Rodney Chatman led Lithonia with 19 points and the Bulldogs got 15 points from Jacara Cross and 12 points from Tylon Patterson. South Miami’s Miguel Arnold netted 25 points, but Ezac Dawson was the only other Cobra in double-figures with 15.

Meridian (MS) 53, Tri-Cities 34: Meridian, the No. 1 ranked team out of Mississippi and No. 18 in the Maxpreps national poll, took a 40-30 lead into the fourth quarter where they outscored Tri-Cities 13-4. Ledarrius Brewer led Meridian with 14 points and teammate Jay Malone netted 10 points while David McCoy and Tyron Brewer each chipped in eight. Tri-Cities was led by Jordan Gaines, who finished with 14 points.