The Lee County, Jonesboro and Etowah boys basketball teams have clinched first place in their regions, while five Class 6A titles remain up for grab heading into the final nine days of the regular season.
Lee County of Region 1, Jonesboro of Region 3 and Etowah of Region 6 will be No. 1 seeds heading into their region tournaments, which determine the four teams from each region that will advance to the state playoffs, which begin Feb. 20. The Class 6A boys championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. on March 8 at the Macon Coliseum.
Here are the boys region standings going into this weekend’s games (with region records, followed by overall records). Note that the records are taken from MaxPreps, the official record-keeper for the Georgia High School Association, and that some of those records may not have been fully updated.
Region 1
Third-ranked Lee County, the state runner-up in 2023, clinched the regular-season championship Saturday night with a 67-60 victory over Houston County. The Trojans are 8-0 in region play with two games remaining, Saturday against Tift County and Tuesday against Veterans. Their closest pursuers – Veterans, Houston County and Thomas County Central – have three losses each. Houston County and Thomas County will meet twice in the next nine days in games that will be pivotal in deciding the No. 2 seed for the region tournament.
Lee County – 8-0 / 19-3
Veterans – 4-3 / 13-8
Houston County – 4-3 / 11-10
Thomas County Central – 3-3 / 9-11
Tift County – 2-5 / 11-10
Northside-Warner Robins – 2-5 / 11-10
Region 2
Tenth-ranked Glynn Academy moved into first place in Region 2 with a 58-56 home victory over Grovetown last week, but the Red Terrors most likely need to complete the season sweep when the teams meet again Saturday at Grovetown to win the title outright. Glynn Academy has won seven consecutive games since their only region loss, 73-61 at Lakeside-Evans on Jan. 6. Grovetown needs to win against Brunswick on Friday to have a shot at the top spot. Grovetown was the Class 6A champion in 2022 and a quarterfinalist last season.
Glynn Academy – 9-1 / 20-3
Grovetown – 8-2 / 14-9
Effingham County – 6-3 / 11-9
Lakeside-Evans – 5-5 / 12-10
Evans – 4-6 / 10-13
Brunswick – 3-8 / 10-13
South Effingham – 0-10 / 0-19
Region 3
Jonesboro is the regular-season champion in Region 3 for the second consecutive season, clinching the title with a 62-19 victory over Forest Park on Tuesday. The Cardinals hold a one-game lead over second-place Woodward Academy but defeated the War Eagles twice this season and hold the tiebreaker if both finish 12-2 in region play. Jonesboro concludes the regular season Friday night at Morrow. Woodward Academy, which will be the No. 2 seed in the region tournament, finishes its regular season Friday against Lovejoy.
Jonesboro – 12-1 / 15-9
Woodward Academy – 11-2 / 19-5
Morrow – 7-5 / 13-9
Mundy’s Mill – 7-5 / 11-9
Rockdale County – 6-7 / 10-12
Lovejoy – 5-7 / 8-11
Alcovy – 2-10 / 12-11
Forest Park – 0-13 / 1-19
Region 4
Fifth-ranked Riverwood and No. 8 St. Pius appear headed for a photo finish for the Region 4 regular-season title. Both have one loss in region play, and they split their season series 1-1. St. Pius won a 90-87 double-overtime game at home on Dec. 11, but Riverwood got payback with a 85-72 victory at home last week. Third-place Marist could be the spoiler. The War Eagles play both teams down the stretch – Friday at home against St. Pius and Tuesday at Riverwood – and could create a three-way tie for first place with victories in both games.
Riverwood – 9-1 / 18-5
St. Pius – 8-1 / 16-6
Marist – 7-2 / 15-7
North Atlanta – 3-6 / 9-11
South Cobb – 3-6 / 8-11
Dunwoody – 2-8 / 7-14
Lakeside-DeKalb – 1-9 / 8-15
Region 5
Top-ranked Alexander, the defending state champion, can clinch the Region 5 regular-season title by beating East Paulding (Friday) and South Paulding (Thursday), or by defeating No. 7 Hughes in Fairburn on Tuesday. It appeared for much of the season that the Alexander-Hughes showdown next week would determine first place, but Hughes’ 54-49 loss to South Paulding dropped closer to third place than to first. Hughes won the first meeting with South Paulding 60-59 in overtime on Dec. 12. Douglas County and New Manchester are in a battle for fourth place.
Alexander – 11-0 / 20-2
Hughes – 9-2 / 15-6
South Paulding – 8-3 / 15-7
Douglas County – 6-5 / 13-9
New Manchester – 6-5 / 9-12
Paulding County – 2-9 / 6-15
Newnan – 2-10 / 11-12
East Paulding – 1-11 / 8-15
Region 6
Fourth-ranked Etowah has rolled to the regular-season championship in Region 6, winning its 10 region games by an average of 18.1 points, with no game closer than six points. The Eagles lead Woodstock by two-and-a-half games with two region games remaining – against Sequoyah (Friday) and Allatoona (Tuesday). They also have a non-region contest at Sandy Creek on Saturday. Woodstock will be the No. 2 seed in the region tournament. The Wolverines are two games ahead of third-place Sequoyah in the loss column with just one game remaining.
Etowah – 10-0 / 17-4
Woodstock – 8-3 / 15-9
Sequoyah – 5-5 / 14-9
Rome – 4-6 / 12-11
Allatoona – 4-7 / 10-13
Creekview – 3-7 / 7-16
River Ridge – 2-8 / 10-13
Region 7
Sixth-ranked Pope has a two-game lead over No. 9 Lassiter and Sprayberry with two games remaining and can clinch the regular-season title outright with a victory in either of its two remaining games – at last-place Roswell (Friday) or at sixth-place Blessed Trinity (Saturday). The Greyhounds split two regular-season games against Sprayberry and swept two against Lassiter. Sprayberry travels to Lassiter on Friday night in a game that likely determines the No. 2 seed in the region tournament. Sprayberry won the first meeting 66-58 on Jan. 9.
Pope – 9-1 / 19-4
Lassiter – 7-3 / 17-6
Sprayberry – 7-3 / 16-7
Alpharetta – 4-6 / 13-10
Johns Creek – 4-6 / 9-14
Blessed Trinity – 3-8 / 5-19
Roswell – 2-9 / 6-18
Region 8
Second-ranked Shiloh defeated second-place Gainesville 68-43 two weeks ago but probably needs to beat the Red Elephants again next Friday in the regular-season finale to claim the outright regular-season title. Gainesville has come on strong in region play since starting the season 0-9. The Red Elephants were 2-11 after losing to Habersham Central in the region opener but have since won seven of nine games. Habersham Central was in contention for first place after upsetting Shiloh 61-57 on Jan. 23 but dropped into third place after losing to Gainesville three nights later.
Shiloh – 9-1 / 19-4
Gainesville – 7-2 / 9-13
Habersham Central – 6-3 / 17-5
Lanier – 4-5 / 9-13
North Forsyth – 4-6 / 7-16
Jackson County – 3-6 / 9-13
Apalachee – 0-10 / 4-19
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