At long last the finals are here. The tournament has produced two great games for Saturday at the Macon Coliseum. Buford will play defending state champion St. Pius in the girls final at 3 p.m. Buford will play Morgan County in the boys final at 4:30 p.m. It won't be the first dance for these finalists.

The St. Pius girls derailed Buford a year ago in the quarterfinals. The Golden Lions went to Buford and beat a Wolves team that was loaded with talent, but a little disjointed and not playing together. St. Pius had been stunned the previous year in the first round and was eager to erase that memory. Pius came away with a 56-43 win and went on to win the state championship and beat Dawson County by 22 in the title game.

Buford and Morgan County's boys have already played twice this year. Morgan County won the season opener and Buford won the rematch at the end of the season. They are two of the hottest teams in the state. Buford has won 20 straight games and Morgan County has won 15 of 16, the lost coming against Buford.

More on these compelling matchups as the week goes by.

By the way, a poll last week asked readers who would play for the state championship. Although there may have been some votes cast after the results were determined, 73 percent of voters correctly picked Buford and St. Pius, but only 39.7 percent voted for the Buford-Morgan boys.

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