Walker’s boys basketball team is 0-5 against top-10 Class A teams, but no one can blame Robert Baker, the 6-foot-10 forward who is Georgia’s consensus No. 9 college prospect.
Baker is averaging 23.6 points and 12.9 rebounds overall, but 28.0 points and 14.4 rebounds against No. 4 St. Francis (two games), No. 5 Whitefield Academy (one game) and No. 6 Our Lady of Mercy (two games).
Walker is 14-6 against a rugged schedule, but strangely is ranked only 16th in the GHSA’s power ratings for Class A private schools. Only the top 16 make it. Baker has signed with Harvard.
(Check out the bottom of this story for Baker's between-the-legs move and dunk in a December game.)
Here are some other top performers from around the state:
-Southwest Atlanta Christian’s boys, who won a state title with Dwight Howard in 2006, haven't been a big factor on the state level since a Class A quarterfinal run in 2008. This season, DeAndre Ballard, one of five junior starters, is averaging 23.7 points. (No teammate has more than 8.0.) Ballard also averaging 8.2 rebounds and 3.3 steals on a 14-7 team that is ranked No. 3 in Class A.
-Bainbridge guard Tyree Crump, who has signed with Georgia, scored 45 points in a 92-78 victory over Class AAAA No. 4 Worth County last week. Crump was 8-of-14 on 3-pointers. He’s averaging 21.8 points. Bainbridge is 17-7.
-Whitefield Academy's Isaiah Hart, a 5-10 junior guard, scored 37 points in a recent victory over Class A private-school defending champion St. Francis. Hart (19.9 points per game) and senior guard Brendon Myles (19.6 points, 11.1 rebounds) have been Whitefield’s go-to players.
-Richard LeCounte is the consensus No. 2 junior football prospect in Georgia. He’s also Liberty County’s best basketball player. He averages 19.3 points, 4.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 2.4 steals for an 18-1 team that has won 16 straight games. LeCounte, a football quarterback and safety, has committed to Georgia.
-Banks County senior Zac Orr, a four-year starter, earned his 1000th career rebound in a 55-52 win over Franklin County. Orr needs 25 points to reach 1,000 points, a milestone reached earlier by teammate Zez Steeple.
-McIntosh senior guard Jordan Lyons scored 28 points and had four assists in an 87-74 victory over Forest Park on Friday. It was the second-best scoring night of the season for Lyons, who averages 19.3 points for the fifth-ranked Chiefs.
-No. 1 Calhoun (21-0) has clinched the Region 6-AA championship. Forward Kaelan Riley recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark, and point guard Jireh Wilson recently became the school’s all-time assist leader.
-Two Douglas County girls went over 1,000 points for their careers recently. They are Kiana Johnson of Lithia Springs and Deesha Brefford of New Manchester.
-Buford’s Rachel Dobbs had eight 3-pointers against Stephens County and six against Madison County in Region 8-AAAA victories last week.
-Dawson County girls coach Steve Sweat got his 500th career victory last week in a 59-35 win over Lumpkin County.
-Sonoraville senior Becca Cheeks, who was rehabbing a knee injury when the season started, went over the 1,000 mark in career points in January and last week surpassed the 1,000-rebound milestone. The only other player from the school to achieve the feat was her sister Carrie Cheeks.
-Henry County sophomore guard Brooke Moore made 16 3-pointers last week in three victories. She is averaging 24.7 points and has made 81 3-pointers, at least one in all but one game. Henry County's girls are 18-5.
-Dutchtown senior Kamera Harris has blocked at least five shot in 10 straight games. She’s averaging 7.8 blocks – more than her points (6.7) and rebounds (6.5) per game.
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