The St. Pius-Marist rivalry hits the hardwood tonight, when the new-look War Eagles host the fifth-ranked Golden Lions at 7:30 p.m.
The two Atlanta rivals have been in different classes for the past several seasons and haven’t played, but their coaches are plenty familiar with each other. Marist first-year coach Kevin Moore played for legendary Marist coach Ron Bell and squared off with St. Pius coach Aaron Parr multiple times, while Parr was starring for the Golden Lions.
“It will be fun to renew that, especially with two guys who have been through it before,” Moore said. “He (Parr) was a little younger than I was, so I think I played him four times. I think he got me once.”
Parr says there is some buzz about tonight’s game, especially because of what happened on the football field between the two teams this season. St. Pius upset an undefeated Marist team with a last-second field and went on to reach the Class AAA state championship game. The Golden Lions were considered underdogs in that game, but they’re favorites tonight.
“There’s some energy about it,” Parr said.
St. Pius is 11-3, with its only losses coming at No. 3 Lithonia, at No. 4 Columbia and against Florida powerhouse Windemere Prep. The Golden Lions are led by junior forward Kerney Lane (17 points per game), sharp-shooter Hamilton Crane and second-leading scorer Christian Merrill.
“The strengths of our team are our outside shooting and our man-to-man defense,” Parr said.
Marist (4-8) returned only experienced players from last year’s squad and has struggled at times, Moore said. But the War Eagles will have star senior point guard Cam Wiley back from injury tonight. Wiley missed several games over the holiday break, but can be a difference-maker Marist. Moore also expects the arrival of five football players, including two starters, to help the War Eagles down the stretch.
Brutal Region 6-AAAA
Four teams in the latest AJC AAAA rankings are out of Region 6: No. 3 Lithonia, No. 4 Columbia, No. 5 St. Pius and No. 8 Stone Mountain.
No. 3 Lithonia, off to a 12-1 start, heads to a respected Stone Mountain team tonight.
Lithonia coach Wallace Corker says his team is playing well, even after a three-week layoff during the holiday break. The Bulldogs played at Cross Keys on Dec. 19, but didn’t play again until January 2 against Mays.
Lithonia was able to shake off any rust from the layover with three wins, including 60-47 over Westlake on Monday. The Bulldogs are led by a talented guard trio of Rodney Chatman, Keyshawn Warren and Tyheem Freeman. Chatman is a college prospect who is seeing interest from Arkansas State.
Towers-Arabia Mountain games altered
Due to a scheduling conflict with the Team Dual Area Championship, the sites for the two region games between Towers and Arabia Mountain have been flip-flopped.
Arabia Mountain will host Towers on Saturday (Jan. 10). The Region 6-AAAA teams will play again at Towers on Jan. 31.
Durr's monster game
St. Pius girls star Asia Durr scored a career-high 49 points in the Golden Lions' win over Redan on Dec. 19. Durr, who became the program's all-time leading scorer this season, hit 13 of 26, including three 3-pointers, made 20 of 27 free throws, grabbed 13 rebounds and handed out four assists.
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