So much is made of Miller Grove’s Tony Parker and Brandon Morris, but the No. 1 team in Class AAAA has more than just the two Score 44 standouts. Devante Provost, Christian Houston, Justin Colvin and Tony Evans are also seniors on the squad, and each could be suiting up at the next level next year. According to Rivals, Evans has an offer from Georgia State while several other southeast schools have shown some interest. Provost has heard from Georgia Southern and Iona, among others, according to Rivals. Meanwhile, Christian Houston simply makes plays, and he could pick up an offer or two with a strong showing in the playoffs. Houston had a huge effort in some of this season’s biggest games, including 23 points in the region tournament.

And a quick football recruiting note, Walton’s Tyren Jones has committed, “for now,” to Alabama. The 5-foot-8 running back texted UGASports.com that he is “committed to Bama as of now.” Jones accepted the scholarship from Nick Saban and the Tide just days after returning from an unofficial visit. According to a yahoo! sports story, Saban also sent Norcross rising senior Alvin Kamara 105 recruiting letters in one day. Last year, Alabama offered North Atlanta’s Justin Taylor and Hillgrove’s Kenyan Drake early but only Drake signed with the Tide. Taylor, after being told he would have to grayshirt, de-committed and signed with Kentucky

Hebron Christian won its playoff debut with a 60-50 decision over Lincoln County. Dylan Schulte finished with 24 points and nine boards. Tyler Matthews scored 16 second-half points to put Lincoln County away.

Holy Innocents’ will hope that throughout the playoffs Reshaundra Owens plays like she did on Tuesday. If so, the Golden Bears could make a deep run. Owens scored 33 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to help Holy Innocents’ to a 59-44 win over Greenforest Christian. McKenzie Bolden chipped in 21 while Bailey McBride registered 12 assists.

Kayleigh Medlin scored 27 points as Bremen clobbered Athens Academy 64-36. The Blue Devils also received 13 from Jordan Hill, who reached the 1,000-point plateau in the victory. Bremen will advance to play the Wilkinson County girls in the next round.

Daniel Brooks paced Gordon Lee with 25 points despite feeling ill in a 62-50 win over the Commerce boys. Gordon Lee managed to out-rebound Commerce in the preliminary round 33-19. Cody Cochran had 11 points and six rebounds in the win.

The Lakeview Academy girls received some hot shooting from Taylor Handte, but her 16 points would not be enough as Washington-Wilkes used a late 13-2 run to ice a 53-44 victory.

It was a bittersweet night for Trion as the school hosted a pair of preliminaries. The girls downed Strong Rock Christian 51-38 thanks to Nicole Peppers’ 16 points and 14 rebounds, but the boys were bounced out by W.D. Mohammed 65-52. Devan Bruce had 25 for Trion, but Mohammed was able to outscore the Bulldogs 24-15 in the fourth. including 16-of-21 shooting from the free throw stripe to ice the game.

North Cobb won Region 4-AAAAA and thus moved up to No. 2 in the AAAAA boys poll, but Shiloh, Westlake and Tift County, all No. 2 seeds, moved down just one spot apiece. Wheeler is the new No. 6 after claiming a region title. Effingham County and Lovejoy, both No. 3 seeds, also fell from the rankings, in favor of a pair of region champions, Brunswick and Northside-WR. Chattahoochee and Alcovy were the biggest movers in Class AAAA while Carrollton and Walnut Grove each cracked the top three in AAA. Two-time defending Class AA champion GAC is back on top as the Spartans attempt to make it three straight state crowns while the top three in Class A remain unchanged.

Alpharetta and Norcross each moved up after winning their respective region tournaments while the North Gwinnett girls dropped a few pegs after falling in the Region 7-AAAAA championship game. Fayette County and Creekview both jumped in the rankings after claiming region championships while Forest Park, Alcovy and Chamblee each dropped a few spots. Miller Grove was also a big mover in the AAAA poll. In AAA, Washington County remains at the top, followed by Columbia and Allatoona. Several teams tumbled out of the poll following poor showings in their region tournaments, Westside-Macon in particular. In Class AA, Heard County and Brooks County appeared in the polls after winning the Region 5 and Region 1 tournaments, respectively. In Class A, Calvary Day assumed the No. 1 spot after Wesleyan fell to new No. 3 St. Francis. Taylor County and Gordon Lee each moved up a few spots.

Boys Basketball Rankings

CLASS AAAAA

1. Milton

2. North Cobb

3. Shiloh

4. Westlake

5. Tift County

6. Wheeler

7. Berkmar

8. Johnson (Savannah)

9. Peachtree Ridge

10. ML King

CLASS AAAA

1. Miller Grove

2. Chattahoochee

3. Alcovy

4. Southwest DeKalb

5. Fayette County

6. North Clayton

7. Jonesboro

8. Douglas County

9. Brunswick

10. Northside-WR

CLASS AAA

1. Columbia

2. Carrollton

3. Walnut Grove

4. Drew

5. Allatoona

6. Eagles Landing

7. North Hall

8. Grady

9. Washington County

10. Thomson

CLASS AA

1. GAC

2. Vidalia

3. Morgan County

4. Albany

5. Jordan

6. Manchester

7. Buford

8. East Hall

9. Thomasville

10. Laney

CLASS A

1. Whitefield Academy

2. North Cobb Christian

3. Wilkinson County

4. Lanier County

5. Athens Christian

6. Taylor County

7. Mt. Pisgah

8. Wilcox County

9. Turner County

10. Landmark Christian

Girls Basketball Poll

CLASS AAAAA

1. McEachern

2. Parkview

3. Alpharetta

4. Norcross

5. Stephenson

6. North Gwinnett

7. Marietta

8. Lowndes

9. Hillgrove

10. Woodstock

CLASS AAAA

1. Fayette County

2. Creekview

3. Miller Grove

4. Alcovy

5. Jonesboro

6. Chamblee

7. Statesboro

8. Warner Robins

9. Forest Park

10. Douglas County

CLASS AAA

1. Washington County

2. Columbia

3. Allatoona

4. Westover

5. St. Pius X

6. Carrollton

7. Cartersville

8. North Hall

9. Westside-Augusta

10. Mary Persons

CLASS AA

1. Morgan County

2. Laney

3. Model

4. Buford

5. East Hall

6. Brooks County

7. Lovett

8. Heard County

9. GAC

10. Rabun County

CLASS A

1. Calvary Day

2. Southwest Atlanta Christian

3. St. Francis

4. Wesleyan

5. Taylor County

6. Gordon Lee

7. Darlington

8. Mitchell County

9. Pelham

10. Wilkinson County

Marietta entered the rankings last week at No. 7, but an upset loss to Lassiter sent the Blue Devils on the road for the first round. The Lassiter coaching staff was incredibly excited following the semifinal victory, and while the Trojans couldn’t knock off Wheeler for the region title, Niles Clark and the rest of the team is playing with confidence and could be dangerous.

Milton is starting to flex its muscles a bit, racking up triple digits in the Region 6 championship game. The Eagles won the title two years ago and made the finals last year before losing to Norcross. Expect David Boyd to have his team frothing at the idea of another title.

Alcovy was able to knock off Fayette County in a highly-anticipated Region 3-AAAA championship game. Now Alcovy must put an emotional win quickly behind them and focus on a dangerous Forest Park squad.

In perhaps the most anticipated Class AAAA region championship game, Miller Grove received a huge effort from Christian Houston to knock off Southwest DeKalb 67-63. Senior Tony Parker is looking for a fourth straight championship before he heads off to the McDonald’s All-America Game.

It was a tough eight-day stretch for the Washington County boys basketball team. While the girls continued their 59-game winning streak, the boys fell for the first time all year, losing their regular season finale to Hancock Central, then following that up with two losses in the Region 3-AAA tournament. The Golden Hawks will be the No. 4 seed and will travel to face Drew in round one after starting the season 22-0.

Diamond DeShields appears to be healthy again as the Norcross junior tallied 24 points in a 53-38 win over North Gwinnett in the Region 7-AAAAA championship game. Norcross outscored North Gwinnett 17-2 in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs received 25 points from junior Lexie Brown, who was saddled with foul trouble for much of the first half.

It was a special night for North Cobb boys coach Terry Gorsuch. The Warriors defeated South Cobb 70-52, giving Gorsuch his first region title in 13 seasons with the program as well as his 200th career victory. North Cobb will face the Bradwell Institute in the first round of the playoffs.

Allisha Gray was at it again for the Washington County Hawks, scoring 30 points as the defending Class AAA champs won their third straight region title. The Hawks are now 27-0 on the year and have won 59 straight.

All good things must eventually end, and Wilcox County found that out the hard way. The three-time defending Region 2-A champions fell in the title game 48-44 to Lanier County. Wilcox County led for most of the game, allowing the Bulldogs to seize control with a little more than three minutes to play in the fourth before Malik Kone finished off the Patriots with 16 points.

After a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope jumper extended Georgia’s lead to five points, the Commodores went on a 15-0 run and never looked back. Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins was the driving force behind the team’s 15-0 run, as he contributed three 3-pointers to help the Commodores take the lead. Mark Fox’s team could not stop Jenkins Sunday, and it showed on the stat sheet. Jenkins finished with 28 points and dominated the Dawgs from behind the arc, going 6 for 8 on 3-point attempts.

The lack of an offense once again maligned the Bulldogs in the second half. Wins against rivals Arkansas and Mississippi State gave fans hope that the team’s offense was improving, but just like earlier in the season, the offense disappeared in the second period. Gerald Robinson continued his string of standout performances, leading the team with 19 points. Robinson was the only Georgia player in double figures, an example of the offense’s shortcomings that afternoon. Caldwell-Pope, who usually averages 14.2 points per game, finished with 6 and did not score until his jumper seven minutes into the second half. He combined with fellow guard Dustin Ware to go 1 for 16 on three point shots, another sign of the team’s offensive troubles.

Georgia went on a 6-0 run late in the game, but by that point Vanderbilt held an eleven-point lead. The Dawgs ultimately fell to the Commodores, 61-52. Georgia has four games remaining and will head to SEC rival LSU on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs beat the Tigers in Athens last year and will try to do the same this year in Baton Rouge.

In Class AAAAA it was the same old story as Collins Hill claimed their fifth straight traditional wrestling team title. The top three schools in points were Collins Hill (184), Camden County (159.5) and Archer (109). Four Eagles took individual titles home, Sean Russell (106), Ryan Millhof (113), Drew Ferguson (120) and Steven Bradtmueller (132).

After a disappointing second-place finish in the team duals to Camden County, Collins Hill came into the traditional championships on a mission to reassert themselves as the top team in the state. After their dominant performance this weekend they can once again make that claim with conviction and evidence to back it up.

Pope completed the season sweep in Class AAAA claiming the traditional title with a team point total of 113 which they can add to the team duals title they won earlier in the year. Alexander took second place with 96.5 points and Lambert edged out Loganville for third with 75.5 points. Pope had a pair of individual champions which helped them to the team title, Cameron Munsey (113) and Jake Henson (152).

Heritage-Catoosa took home the team title in Class AAA with 139 points, defeating Gilmer (128) and Carollton (110) in the process. The finals were somewhat bittersweet for the Generals as they had five wrestlers with the opportunity to claim individual titles, but only Landon Reed (132) was able to win his final match. The team victory avenged their loss to Gilmer at the team duals.

Also, in AAA, Chad and Chandler Pike of Woodward Academy each won state titles in their respective weight classes. The brothers are believed to be the only pair in state history to win state titles in the same year.

Nothing has changed in Class AA as Jefferson yet again dominated the field scoring 232 points to earn its fourth straight title in AA, and 12th consecutive dating back to their years in Class A. The next closest team to Jefferson was Greater Atlanta Christian which took second place by one point over Lovett, 88-87. Like Heritage-Catoosa in Class AAA, Jefferson did not perform as they had hoped in the finals as they went 2-7 in their nine championship matches, with Tyler Marinelli (126) and Forrest Przybysz (182) as the only two able to come out victorious.

Class A featured one of the best team point races between Gordon Lee who fell short of Bremen 154-138.5. Team duals champions Holy Innocents’ finished third with 122.5 points. Bremen had one of the best days of any team as all five of its wrestlers in championship matches won, Zac Young (120), Brock Cooper (126), Cory Morgan (132), Kannon Madden (145) and Joe Bexley (285). Also in Class A, Spencer Jones of Darlington completed the impressive feat of winning his fourth individual state championship, winning the 152 pound title by pin-fall.

The Panthers started off strong in jumping out to a quick 12-5 lead. They maintained their seven-point advantage throughout the first half, and led 45-38 going into the locker room.

The key for the Panthers in the first half was three-point shooting, as they went 6-for-11 from downtown, led by Richardson. The second half was more of a struggle from the outside, but State found its success inside penetrating the Roadrunners two-three zone. The Panthers were up by 17 with less than two minutes to play before they pulled out all their starters and major bench players.

The energy level was high from the start for Georgia State and the Panthers did a great job as a team moving the ball and finding good open shots. They broke the Roadrunners’ zone through their hot shooting, and when they changed to man, they took the ball inside and were able to make their way to the cup with ease. Early on, the Panthers swarmed UTSA in the backcourt, running a full-court trap, forcing six first half turnovers that led to easy transition buckets.

The Panthers struggled some in their half-court defense, allowing UTSA to shoot 47.3 percent from the field. They allowed a lot of open jump shots from the outside, and sometimes were slow on their zone rotation on the perimeter. The struggle defensively was overshadowed by the Panthers’ offensive play, but coach Ron Hunter was clearly not impressed by the defensive performance as he was frequently in the faces of his players during timeouts.

Moving on to their final two games of the season at home against ODU and on the road at William and Mary, the Panthers will hope to carry this offensive performance over, shooting 56.9 percent from the field, but will look to improve defensively.