5 defending state champions take part in Hawks-Naismith Tipoff Classic

Five reigning basketball state champions and eight of the 22 players featured in the AJC’s preseason watch lists of Georgia’s best are playing Saturday in the six-game Hawks-Naismith Tipoff Classic at Holy Innocents’.

The defending champions are River Ridge girls (Class 5A), Creekside girls (4A), Holy Innocents’ girls and boys (3A-A Private) and Tri-Cities boys (5A).

River Ridge and Creekside are playing each other in the noon opener. Holy Innocents’ girls will play the next game against North Paulding, a top-10 Class 6A team.

Holy Innocents’ boys are playing Class 5A runner-up Woodward Academy. Tri-Cities will play McEachern, a perennial contender in Class 6A.

Also participating will be boys teams Kell, Milton and Cross Creek, which have won state titles this decade.

The eight preseason girls watch players include River Ridge’s Finley Parker, Creekside’s C’India “Cece” Dennis and Holy Innocents’ Nakhai Worthy, all top-100 national junior recruits.

Boys players on the AJC watch list are Woodward Academy’s Jarvis Hayes Jr., Holy Innocents’ Devin Hutcherson, McEachern’s Chase Lumpkin and Tri-Cities’ Tre Keith and Jalan Wingfield.

This is the sixth year of the showcase put on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club and the Hawks.

Hawks-Naismith Tipoff Classic Schedule

Noon – Creekside vs. River Ridge (girls)

1:40 p.m. – North Paulding vs. Holy Innocents’ (girls)

3:20 p.m. – Cross Creek vs. Milton (boys)

5 p.m. – Kell vs. Gainesville (boys)