Wednesday wrap: Curse of the defending champ?

Five boys basketball programs won their first state-playoff games in history on Wednesday. Two others won for the first time since the 1960s.

Three regions went 4-0. Two defending champions went down.

The big news, of course, was Grayson’s 59-58 victory over No. 1-ranked Wheeler in what continued the curse of the defending champions in Georgia’s highest classification.

It’s now happened four of the past five seasons that the reigning boys champion in the highest classification has failed to make the second round.

2011 champion Norcross: Lost to Berkmar in 2012

2012 champion Milton: Banned from postseason in 2013

2013 champion Norcross: Reached semifinals in 2014

2014 champion Tift County: Lost to Newton 52-49

2015 champion Wheeler: Lost to Grayson 59-58

Note that both Wheeler and Tift County entered the tournament undefeated against Georgia teams when they lost in the first round.

Here’s a class-by-class look at the events of Wednesday:

AAAAAA

-Austin Dukes was a hero for Grayson. He made three free throws with three seconds left for the lead and final margin, scored 21 pounds and had six rebounds. Alphonso Willis had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Grayson is one of the five teams that won a state-playoff game for the first time Wednesday.

-Aside from Grayson, the only other road teams to win were Campbell (71-68 over Tucker, which had been ranked almost every week until losing its Region 2 tournament final to Newton) and Peachtree Ridge (66-58 over Johns Creek). Campbell had lost eight of its past nine state-playoff games.

-Lee County won its first state-playoff game since 1985 with a 75-68 win over Kennesaw Mountain.

-No. 3 Westlake and No. 4 Norcross each advanced to face each other in a super second-round matchup Saturday at Westlake.

AAAAA

-Three road teams won – Morrow over Shaw, Mays over Sequoyah and Jones County over Region 3 champion Camden County. Camden had just won what is believed to be its first region title in 30 years. The Wildcats still haven’t won a state-playoff game since 1975.

-No. 4 McIntosh (beat Carver-Columbus) and No. 5 Gainesville (beat Villa Rica) each advanced toward perhaps the best second-round matchup. It will be played at McIntosh on Saturday.

AAAA

-Region 6 swept Region 7. It was not unexpected. Region 6 had four ranked teams for most of the regular season. It went like this –

R6 #1 Grady 78, R7 #4 Pickens 44

R6 #2 Lithonia 88, R7 #3 Northwest Whitfield 36

R6 #3 Columbia 70, R7 #2 Heritage-Catoosa 38

R6 #4 St. Pius 63, R7 #1 Cartersville 46

-Region 5 swept Region 8. Note that Region 5 has only six teams, so two-thirds of them are in the Sweet 16. It went like this:

R5 #1 Sandy Creek 84, R8 #4 North Oconee 34

R5 #2 Woodward Academy 53, R8 #3 Monroe Area 52

R5 #3 Carrollton 59, R8 #2 North Hall 56

R5 #4 Fayette County 69, R8 #1 Buford 62

-A third region champion – 10th-ranked Upson-Lee from Region 2 – also bit the dust, losing 82-67 to New Hampstead, another of the five first-time state-tournament winners. New Hampstead opened in Savannah in 2012.

-The big region winner, however, was Region 1. Ninth-ranked Monroe beat No. 7 Walnut Grove 71-45. Monroe was the regular-season Region 1 winner. Also, unranked Bainbridge crushed fifth-ranked Eagle’s Landing 80-46. Region champion Westover (a fifth-place finisher in the regular season, but the tournament champion and No. 1 seed) edged Eastside 70-68. Region 4’s only winner was top-ranked Jonesboro, 81-47 over Worth County, a team that spent a couple of weeks ranked. In short, Region 1 was not underrated, but Region 4 was surely overrated.

-Bainbridge’s girls also beat seventh-ranked Jonesboro 50-49 on Wednesday. When is the last time that one school has beaten two ranked opponents on the same night in the state tournament? Answer unknown, but probably not often, if ever.

-Mary Persons won its first state-playoff game since 1968 with a 73-67 win over Burke County.

AAA

-Fifth-ranked South Atlanta survived ninth-ranked Johnson-Savannah on the road in a harsh first-round matchup for both.

-Big night for Jackson County, not just the school, but the school district. Jackson County won its first state-playoff game since 1965 with a 75-52 road victory over Rockmart. East Jackson won its first-ever state-playoff game with a 73-62 victory over Central-Carroll. East Jackson is in its second season under David Boyd, who led Milton to its two recent state titles.

-Lumpkin County won its first-ever state-playoff game with a 55-54 victory over North Murray.

-Third-ranked Crawford beat eighth-ranked Seminole County 95-64 in a rematch of the 2015 AA title game, won by Seminole.

-Jefferson County won its first-ever state playoff game with a 62-59 victory in Savannah over Benedictine.

-Region 6 swept Region 7. Region 6 is considered the classification’s toughest, but Region 7 featured 10th-ranked Model and another team that had been ranked most of the season, Chattooga. Here was the outcome –

R6 #1 Pace Academy 70, R7 #4 Darlington 48

R6 #2 Lovett 64, R7 #3 Coosa 49

R6 #3 Greater Atlanta Christian 67, R7 #2 Chattooga 61

R6 #4 Holy Innocents’ 54, R7 #1 Model 51