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).

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The city of Brookhaven's mayor and City Council last week decided to remove the colored panes of glass from the dome of Brookhaven's new City Centre after residents objected to the brightness of the colors, seen here Friday, June 27, 2025. (Reed Williams/AJC)

Credit: Reed Williams/AJC