On the boys side, Region 3 has determined its seeding for the region tournament that will tipoff on Monday, Feb. 13. Benedictine earned the No. 1 seed and Burke County secured the No. 2 seed. Those programs are guaranteed a playoff berth with No. 3 seeded New Hampstead and will face the winner of No. 4 seed Wayne County and the victor of Monday’s defacto play-in game featuring No. 6 Islands and No. 5 Southeast Bulloch.
While McDonough and Pace Academy top the current boys poll, the girls poll is deep with contenders that is a direct result of the decorated newcomers to the classification. Holy Innocents’ has been on a tear lately and carries a 10-game win streak into tonight’s home game against Druid Hills and Friday’s regular season finale at Southwest DeKalb. Holy Innocents’ recently scored a 64-57 road win over Class 7A Buford and closed out a 71-8 region win over Stone Mountain. The Golden Bears haven’t lost within the state since their 55-51 road loss to Westminster and avenged that loss recently with a 67-54 victory on Jan. 20.
Griffin dropped its first Class 4A game to Baldwin earlier this month to split the season series and has bounced back with four-straight wins. Griffin stamped an 82-18 win over Spalding on Saturday and then closed out its regular season slate with a 60-36 win over Perry. Hardaway has earned the top seed out of Region 1 heading into the region tournament and has compiled a 19-4 overall record to go with its perfect 8-0 region mark. The Hawks’ lone Class 4A loss came to Luella in a 43-34 battle back on Jan. 16. Luella not only has the Hardway win on its resume, it also has grown a six-game win-streak and a 13-0 Region 5 record heading into Tuesday’s season finale at Pace Academy. Luella previously defeated Pace Academy 75-43 and is still perfect within Class 4A. Moreover, 17-6 Luella’s only in-state loss this season came to Class 5A No. 1 ranked Kell (63-46) back on Dec. 16. In Region 8, North Hall avenged its 57-56 loss to East Forsyth with a 58-55 win this past Friday. The Trojans now carry an eight-game win-streak heading into Tuesday’s season finale against visiting Walnut Grove—who is entering tipoff with an identical 18-5 overall record.
The McDonough boys bounced back from their first Class 4A defeat of the season with a massive 60-36 win over Stockbridge to improve to 19-3 overall. In the victory, Senior Amon McDowell led the way with a game-high 18 points and a total of eight different Warhawks contributed points—including 12 points by sophomore Nigel Thomas and 11 points from junior Keenan Gray. Pace Academy’s lone loss came 70-61 to McDonough before the Knights’ avenged that loss and they carry a five-game win-streak into their final two games of the regular season. Pace Academy will host Lovett this Friday before closing out the season at home against Luella. Pace Academy also scored a major victory over Stockbridge (78-36) before this Tuesday’s 66-40 win over Woodland-Stockbridge. Pace Academy had nine different scorers in the win over Stockbridge, including four different players [and underclassmen] that notched double-figures; Lamar Moore (19), Eric Chatfield (15), Chandler Bing (12) and Jackson Ferry (11).