VOLUME 11 ISSUE 9 | MARCH 13-19, 2015 | YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Time to look great!

PATHS OF WINNINGStar-driven Wheeler and McEachern leave Macon as 6A state champs | Pg. 5

Fever Pitch | Pg. 8

Baseball and soccer season hits one quarter mark.

Macon A Statement | Pg. 4

Kyle Sandy tells us what he learned after championship weekend in Macon.

MORE CHOICES. MORE STRENGTH.

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3Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock

MANAGING EDITOR Craig Sager II

MARKETING/ Lauren Goldstein PARTNERSHIP DIRECTOR

BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

BEAT WRITERS Ricky Dimon (Braves) Brian Jones (KSU) Dan Mathews (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons) Kyle Sandy (Hawks, GSU, Gladiators) Colin Hubbard (Tech) STAFF WRITERS Jalisa Smith Matthew Cason

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SCORE LIST | NUMBERS

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BRAVES | FALCONS HAWKS | GLADIATORS

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The Stephenson Jaguars were the only No. 3 seed to reach this year’s state finals, and

they faced a Mays team that coaches this post-season believed you would need a perfect game to beat. But with momentum on their side en-tering the matchup, the Jaguars scored just 23 points in the first half but used a 23-13 scoring advantage in the third quarter to edge Mays 65-56 and take home the Class AAAAA state title. Prior to Friday’s championship matchup, the third-seeded Jaguars had lost twice to Mays in the past two months. A 64-46 loss on Jan. 20 was followed by a more respectable 53-51 defeat on Feb. 13 and head coach Dennis Watkins knew that it was mistakes and not tal-ent that had held his team back. “I knew we could beat them,” said Watkins following the game. “We made a lot of mistakes

the first two times we played them. I told them if we just limit the mistakes we can win.” Mays jumped to a 27-23 halftime lead, but once again, it was the Jaguars’ turnovers that gave Mays the extra scoring opportunities. Ste-phenson committed 12 turnovers in the first half that the Raiders turned it into 12 points. Mays also outscored Stephenson 10-5 in second chance points in the first two quarters. “At the half, I just told them to keep our composure. Mays didn’t hurt us in the half-court set in the first half. They scored most of the points off our turnovers, so we knew that if we protected the ball it would limit their op-portunities in the second half and it worked.” Stephenson came out in attack-mode in the third quarter and took advantage of its depth by drawing charges and taking the ball

right into the bulk of the Mays defense. One of the Jaguars’ biggest strengths can be their bench and coach Watkins knew his team could take advantage of this depth if they could get Mays into foul trouble. “Mays usually plays six girls so our whole plan this week was to get them in foul trouble,” revealed Watkins. “We knew if we could get to their bench that we would be fine.” Offensively, Stephenson saw its most bal-anced game of the postseason. Terrianna Cave led the way with 14 points, including 2-2 from the foul line in crunch time. Davion Wingate and Miracle Gray each finished with 13 and Chloe Culpeper chipped in with eight. Nine to-tal Stephenson players scored points and Bre-anna Saunders, the only one without a basket, contributed two rebounds, a block and a steal in just seven minutes of action. “This is just a testament of the hard work of every member of this team,” said Watkins. “You put in the effort and this is the result. A championship” Mays was led in scoring by Kamiyah Street, who finished with 19 points on 6-of-20 shooting. Raiders’ teammate Harlyn Wyatt notched a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds but did her damage at the foul line. Wyatt netted 10-of-15 free throws but was held to 4-of-14 shooting from the field. This

marks Stephenson’s third state title and first since 2008.

FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME… Class AAA Laney’s Aliyah Collier put to-gether another incredible postseason perfor-mance as the Wildcats outpaced Beach 70-55 for their first-ever state title. Collier netted a game-high 24 points and added a career-high 19 rebounds. The senior also added eight as-sists, seven steals and four blocks. “She [Alliyah] is ready for the next level,” said Laney head coach Otis Smart following the game. “She is a great leader, a great team-mate and her effort is even better.” Collier’s surrounding cast got going early and the Wildcats took a 19-11 lead into the second quarter but once Beach started to chip away at the lead in the second quarter, Collier would time and time again be the answer. Col-lier finished with 11 of the team’s 13 final points in the first half and found Gemyia Brown for one of her eight assists for the other two points. Laney netted 26-39 free-throw attempts as Collier led the way with 16-of-20 shooting. Beach used 7-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc to make up for the discrepancies in points in the paint (Laney 32-18) and fast break points (Laney 12-2). Photo courtesy of Terrance Johnson.

What a weekend! The March to Macon was everything that I had hoped. Nine out

of the 14 games were decided by single digits and every game was up for grabs in the fourth quarter except for one. We saw some nail-biting finishes, questionable calls, and all-out passion. Sitting courtside for the first time, I was able to see in person some of the best players not only in the state but the entire nation. I witnessed D-1 players steal the show with Jordan Harris, Malik Beasley, Kobi Sim-mons, Derek Ogbeide, James Walker, and Tookie Brown all carry their teams with their scoring. I also saw some unsung heroes come up big with DaJohn Williams and Eric Johnson giving their teams state championships. So what did we learn this week? Let’s take

it class by class. In Class A-Public, Calhoun County held off a late rally from the Patriots. I learned that: Seniors find ways to make plays in the clutch. Quenten Taylor was the star of the game until he picked up his fourth with 4:26 remaining in the third. He came back in the fourth and scored one more bucket to give him 20 on the night. Both he and Sherrod Wil-liams finished with 20 points to lead the way for the Cougars but it was senior DaJohn Wil-liams’ 18th point of the night that would give Calhoun County the crown. St. Francis battled with Greenforest in Class A-Private and came away with a 96-81 victory for its second straight title. I learned that: Stars shine brightest on the biggest stage. Greenforest had more size and had

strong guard play, but FSU-signee Malik Bea-sley, Xavier-signee Kaiser Gates, and five-star junior Kobi Simmons were too much as they combined for 73 points. The St. Francis girls edged South Atlanta Christian 47-45 after SACA turned the ball over on its final posses-sion and Maya Dodson converted at the buzz-er to knock off the team that ended the Lady Knights’ season a year ago.

BACK AT IT… Class AA saw the Wesleyan Wolves cap-ture their 11 state title and their seventh in eight years. The boys game featured Crawford County and its raucous fan base against Semi-nole County. I learned that: Jordan Harris is the best player in the state of Georgia. The junior exploded for 41 points after draining three after three and cramming dunk after dunk. Mark Fox got a steal in this kid who will only continue to improve. Morgan County fell to Jenkins 62-60 in the Class AAA final after Eric Johnson broke Bulldog fans’ hearts with a layup with 3.6 sec-onds remaining. I learned that: Morgan County can pack a gym out. Just over an hour away, the Bulldog fans filled the gym to the rafters to see Tookie Brown’s final game. It was a stand-ing room only crowd and they were treated to possibly the best game of the weekend, even

though their team didn’t come out on top. Ali-yah Collier was a superstar in Laney’s win over Beach recording 24 points and 19 rebounds. Carrollton was denied a sweep of the state titles in AAAA and came away empty handed after the Trojans could not feed Montae Glenn in the second half and after the Lady Trojans couldn’t find a bucket in the fourth quarter. I learned that: Jonesboro has the best defense in the state bar none. The Cardinals flew around the court and locked down the bigger Glenn in the second half. Stephenson grabbed the title after beating Mays in the AAAAA girls final. I learned that: It is hard to beat a team three times. Davion Wingate and Miracle Gray refused to let the Jags drop another one to the Raiders. Bruns-wick’s size overwhelmed Allatoona in the boys championship and won going away, 49-32. In overtime, McEachern and Te’a Cooper defeated Norcross 58-51. Wheeler beat Peb-blebrook by one in the AAAAAA boys game. I learned that: Stars get calls and free throws win championships. Jared Harper split a pair for Pebblebrook and gave them just a one point lead instead of two. Jaylen Brown subsequent-ly got fouled on the other end and iced it with two from the line. Photo courtesy of Kent Johnson/AJC.com.

SAGER SAYS

SANDY’S SPIEL

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

STEPHENSON GIRLS COMPLETE CHAMPIONSHIP RUN, LANEY TAKES HOME FIRST-EVER CROWN

WHAT I LEARNED IN MACON

5Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

Georgia high school basketball’s three-day marathon of state championship games

started with a bang and ended even better as the Wheeler boys and McEachern girls took the 6A titles to wrap up a weekend filled with buzzer-beaters and late-game heorics. McEachern and Norcross squared off in the 13th of 14 state championship games that went through the Macon Centreplex last weekend and after their overtime finish, Wheeler and the Pebblebrook Falcons took the court for the grand finale. Wheeler’s Jaylen Brown, the No. 2 over-all prospect in the country, shot a perfect 12-12 from the foul line, including a pair of makes with .5 left to give Wheeler a 59-58 victory over Pebblebrook in the boys Class AAAAAA state championship on Saturday in Macon. Pebble-brook trailed throughout the game until an 8-2 run in the fourth quarter gave the Falcons a 55-51 lead. Shembari Phillips ended the run with a corner three to cut the deficit to 55-53 but Peb-blebrook junio Jared Harper found Kevin Murph for a dunk with 1:42 left to put the Falcons back up by four 57-53. Brown used his ability to get

to the basket and force contact from that point forward before closing the game with 6-6 foul shooting in the final 1:38 to fuel a state champi-onship-clinching 6-1 scoring run. “I had no doubt once Brown got to the line,” said Wheeler head coach Doug Liscomb about Brown shooting for the win. “He is pure ice at the line.” Brown finished with a game-high 22 points but logged just 28 minutes after getting into early foul trouble. Phillips, a University of Tennessee-signee hit the only two three-point-ers of the game for either team and finished with 17 points. “Shembari kept us in the game,” said Lip-scomb. Pebblebrook scored 20 of its 32 points in the paint after the half and UGA-signee Derek Ogbeide was a force inside. Ogbeide finished with 22 rebounds and 14 points. Jared Harper struggled getting open looks against the Wheeler defense and shot just 3-14 from the field en route to a 10-point perfor-mance. Harper drew a foul with 7.8 second left and hit one of two to put the Falcons up 58-57

before Brown got to the line and netted both attempts for the win. Clemson-commit Ty Hudson led Pebble-brook with 19 points but committed a game-high eight turnovers, including four in the opening quarter. “We knew we wanted to come out and set the tone defensively,” admitted Lipscomb. “It was going to require one of our best defensive games of the season for us to beat a team like Pebblebrook.”

THREE FOR FOUR… The McEachern Indians (24-6) had a chance to win the championship in regulation with a picture-perfect scenario against the Norcross Blue Devils (28-5) Saturday evening in Macon but instead used an 8-1 scoring edge in the extra frame to secure the program’s third state title in four seasons with a 58-51 victory. The Indians found themselves tied with Nor-cross (50-50) and had Tennessee-commit and McDonald’s All-American Te’a Cooper at the line with a chance to end the Blue Devils’ hopes right then and there. The Indians were in the double bonus, had the momentum on their side and their leader at the foul line but she missed both and Norcross could not find an open look on its last possession of regulation. The game ended with McEachern’s 8-1 run and this was a theme throughout the previ-ous four quarters. The Blue Devils, who’d held opponents to under 30 points eight separate times this year, mounted a 17-7 run in the second quarter. Norcross also held Cooper to three points and pushed her into foul trouble, which would’ve been an ideal formula for top-pling McEachern. Cooper picked up her third foul at the 3:30 mark and would sit on the bench the final two minutes of the quarter and Norcross took a 32-25 lead into the half. In the third quarter, Norcross began com-mitting a slew of fouls and quickly found itself on the wrong side of a game-changing 14-5 run which got McEachern back in the game. With four minutes left in the fourt quar-ter, Cooper picked up her fourth foul but an-swered with a baseline drive and basket that killed any momentum that could have shifted to the Blue Devils’ favor. As the clock ticked past 4:00 in the final quarter McEachern was clinging to a slim lead when Cooper picked up her fourth foul. However, Norcross’ Taylor Mason answered with two free-throws and a three-pointer to tie the game with :57 remain-ing. McEachern coach Phyllis Arthur called a time-out after Mason’s three-pointed to calm

GHSA STATE TOURNAMENT

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

WHEELER, MCEACHERN CLAIM 6A TITLES IN THRILLING FASHION

her troops and set the play that would see Coo-per draw the foul and miss both free-throws. “Okay, look, I missed two free-throws with the game in hand. After that I knew we had to stop them,” said a relieved Cooper after the game. “As soon as we got a chance to win it in overtime, I knew we had it.” Cooper took only :30 to drive for a lay-in which gave McEachern a 52-50 lead. Norcross’ Ty Gillespie found herself at the line with 2 min-utes remaining but only converted one free-throw, it would be the last Blue Devil point of the year. Jada Lewis added a floater with 1:40 left to extend the lead and added two clutch free-throws with less than a minute remaining to ex-tend the final run to 8-1 and secure the repeat. Coach Phyllis Arthur said of her team’s re-silience after seeing Cooper miss the possible game-winning free-throws, ”It’s hard to de-scribe, I knew we wouldn’t go down. Norcross was being physical. I told them that we needed to be physical too. Te’a and Jada (Lewis) are my eyes and ears out there.” Photos courtesy of Ty Freeman.

ON THE COVER

6 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

OUR TWO CENTSOur email newsletter is something we take a lot of pride in at Score. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is a high school sports-heavy publication that we produce each day to fill in our readers on the latest happenings in Georgia prep sports. We send it out Monday through Friday throughout the year and Monday through Saturday during the fall.

Not only do we cover popular sports like football, basketball and baseball, we also cover every other varsity sport the GHSA fields. If you like Georgia high school sports at all, sign up for our email newsletter by visiting www.tinyurl.com/scorenewsletter and enter your email address(es) that you’d like added to the distribution list.

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Jaylen Brown Michael JohnsonNew York Jets Mike MinorJordan Harris Georgia Tech

The No. 2 ranked senior in the nation coolly sank two free throws with 0.5 seconds re-maining to give Wheeler a 59-58 state championship over Pebblebrook. Brown proved his mettle by going a perfect 12-12 from the line en route to scoring 22 points in his final high school game.

The former Georgia Tech de-fensive end was cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday after signing a five-year, $43.75 exactly one year ago. Johnson was a flop and was a culprit of why the Bucs finished with the worst record in the league. He re-corded just four sacks and was not the elite pass rusher Tampa had hoped to have signed.

New GM Mike Maccagnan has opened up the check book and has delighted Jets fans with the signings of Darrelle Revis, Buster Skrine, and now pos-sibly Antonio Cromartie. Gang Green should have one of the fiercest secondaries in the league now behind new head coach Todd Bowles.

Atlanta’s top lefty will start the season on the DL due to inflammation in his rotator cuff. It is always hair raising the see the word ‘rotator cuff’ in the same sentence as a ‘pitcher’, but for now, it looks like the Braves have dodged a bullet and should have Minor back in a few weeks.

This kid is only a junior? The UGA-commit dropped 41 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Crawford County in the Class AA state cham-pionship. Harris showed an arrange of skills, snagging rebounds, draining threes, and rocking the rim. Mark Fox got a steal.

Tech’s woeful season ended in typical fashion on Monday. The Jackets fell 66-65 to Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament and finished the season 12-19. A whop-ping 13 of Georgia Tech’s 16 losses against ACC foes were by single digits. Talk about getting stung.

SCORE LISTBy Brian Jones

NUMBERSBy Kyle Sandy

NEW FALCONSThe free agency period has started and the Falcons have signed some veteran players that should bolster the defense and offensive line. Linebackers Justin Durant and Brooks Reed as well as offensive lineman Mike Person were all starters for their teams last year, and did some good things. I can’t wait to see them in action this season.

Mike Minor will start the season on the DL after suffering an injury to his shoulder. That is actually good news considering they thought he would need to have surgery. Minor is looking to bounce back after a season where he had a 4.77 ERA and a 6-12 record. Let’s hope he can bounce back from the injury and have a strong 2015 season.

MINOR INJURY

HUGE NIGHT AT PHILIPSThe Hawks put on a clinic against the Sacramento Kings on Monday as they scored a season-high 130 points to win their 50th game of the season. The Hawks also recorded 20 three-pointers and 42 assists, which is league high. The Hawks keep on soaring, and they need this momentum as they gear up for the playoffs next month.

HOOP DAWGSThe Bulldogs had a strong regular season, and they enter the SEC tournament as a No. 3 seed. This means they have a double-bye and will play the late game on Friday. But no matter what happens in the SEC Tournament, the Bulldogs will likely make it to the NCAA Tournament because of their record in conference play.

STATE CHAMPS CROWNEDIt was an exciting weekend in Macon as 14 teams earned the right to be called state champs. The Wheeler boys won its first title since 2009 and Jonesboro boys won their second consecutive title. The McEachern girls won its third title in four years while the Buford girls won its fourth title in seven years. Great weekend for Macon and the GHSA.

? “

ANSWER ON PAGE 14- Coach Dan Quinn on a successful

Day 1 of Free Agency.

TRIVIA QUESTION

SANITY AT LAST

HOW MANY ASSISTS DID THE HAWKS DISH

OUT IN MONDAY’S 130-105 VICTORY OVER

SACRAMENTO?

“This is just the first step in putting our roster together and I am fired up about getting to connect and work with all of our

guys come April 6”

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State titles won by the Wesleyan girls basketball team

State titles won by the Wheeler boys basketball team

Combined points by Malik Beasley, Kobi Simmons and Xavier Gates St. Francis’ championship win

Points by Jordan Harris to lift Seminole County to the 2A state title

A season-high assists for the Hawks against the Kings on Monday

A season-high points for the Hawks on Monday

Games it took the Hawks to reach 50 wins this season

Weeks until the 2015 Corky Kell Classic returns to the Georgia Dome

7Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

Marietta’s boys and girls continued their hot starts to 2015 with victories on Mon-

day. The girls (5-1) cruised past Osborne 10-1 on the strength of five goals by Ashton Adams. Kennedy Folse notched a hat-trick as well, while the Blue Devils also saw Gracie Mu-timer and Brooke Adams find the back of the net. On the boys’ side, Marietta (6-1) trumped Creekview 3-0. C.J. Gidson, Walter Guerrero and Andrew Estrada scored goals in support of the shutout by goalkeeper Diego Corvalen. Another incredible individual perfor-mance came from Greater Atlanta Christian’s Kaylann Boyd, who scored six goals in a 10-0 whitewash of Berkmar on Monday. Halle Huff provided the Spartans’ four other goals. Great-er Atlanta Christian’s girls, who also beat Strat-ford Academy 8-1 last Thursday, are 4-2 on the season. They have dates next week with Pace

Academy and Lovett. The boys lost to Stratford Academy 2-1 and will look to get back on track against Berkmar on Wednesday and Thomas-ville on Friday prior to next week’s matchups with Pace Academy and Lovett. In Class A, Providence Christian and Mt. Paran Christian squared off on Monday. The Providence Christian girls pulled out a 3-2 victo-ry thanks to a pair of goals by Ashlee Thompso and one goal plus one assist from Anna Bougas. It was a different story in the boys’ match, as Mt. Paran Christian rolled 5-0. Jake Mezei found the back of the net four times and Jackson McLarty added a goal for the Eagles. Another head-to-head split came in a blockbuster showdown between powerhouse programs St. Pius X and Westminster last Wednesday. The St. Pius X boys cruised to a 3-0 shutout, but Westminster’s girls won 3-1. Both

teams at St. Pius X will go up against Starr’s Mill on Wednesday and Hillgrove on Friday. One of the biggest surprises developed last Friday when Houston County’s boys went on the road to stun McIntosh 3-0. McIntosh had been 52-0-1 in its last 53 outings, a stretch that included an 8-1 blowout of Houston Coun-ty in the 2014 Class AAAAA championship. The Chiefs will hope to get back on track with a tough test against Northgate on Friday.

ON THE DIAMOND ... Last Friday Lambert, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation and defending state champs, fell to Kennesaw Mountain 3-0. Mustang pitcher and Clemson-signee Ryley Gillam hurled a one-hit complete game shutout as Kennesaw Mountain picked up another signature victory and remained undefeated. Gillam struck out 11 batters in the dominant performance against Class AAAAAA’s team to beat. The Mustangs are loaded with talent and are poised to make a deep run this season. Zach Goodman (Clem-son), Tyler Stephenson (Georgia Tech), Cole Buffington (The Citadel) and Reggie Pruitt (Vanderbilt) all are division-one signees. Else-where in 6A, Archer has rolled along to start the season at 7-0 while allowing just seven runs. The defending Class AAAAA champions Houston County have struggled out of the gate starting just 3-5. The Bears lost seven games

all season a year ago. Heritage-Coosa defeated defending AAAA state champion Carrollton 10-4 on Saturday. Dylan Bice limited the Tro-jans to three runs (two earned) in six innings of work while Logan Haga knocked home two runs with a double and Isaac Miller collected one RBI with his two hits. Hephzibah, just a seven win team a season ago, has already won five games and is undefeated. The Rebels have powered past opponents in dominating fashion, scoring 62 runs and allowing just two. Senior Darryl Hammond has yet to allow an earned run in his 12 innings of work and has struck out 29 batters while surrendering just two hits. He has also mashed at the plate hit-ting .562 with seven RBIs. Teammate Stephen Justice leads the team with nine RBIs and is also hitting .562. In AAA, Pierce County suffered its first loss of the season last Tuesday at the hands of Berrien, 7-6 and now sit at 5-1 overall. The Buford Wolves finished a four game set at the LaGrange Toyota Invitational Tournament win-ning three of their four games. The Wolves placed third in the tournament and had Jake Higginbotham, Kevin Coulter, and Joey Bart selected to the All-Tournament team. Photos courtesy of Sonny Kennedy, Georgia Bennett Photography and Walton HS.

SPRING SPORTS

MARIETTA BOYS AND GIRLS MAINTAIN FINE FORM; MUSTANGS BLANK LAMBERTBY RICKY DIMON & KYLE SANDY

9Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

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A young athlete’s brain is still developing, so don’t take chances with a head injury. Bring him to Children’s, where doctors have the expertise to diagnose and treat concussions. And with ImPACT TM testing, we can compare a patient’s progress to a normal baseline score to help determine when he’s ready to play again. To schedule a baseline ImPACT TM test for your athlete or team, visit choa.org/baselinetesting.

11Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

1....................... Brookwood2...............................Walton3...........................Campbell4..................Chattahoochee5............................ Lambert

1............................Harrison2.............................Grayson3...................... East Coweta4.............................Lassiter5...............................Walton

6................................ Duluth7................... Meadowcreek8.............................Wheeler9............................. Marietta10................ North Gwinnett

6....................South Forsyth7.............................Lambert8........................... Parkview9......................... Collins Hill10.................................Pope

6..................Coahulla Creek7..................Oconee County8............................ East Hall9............................. Jackson10.............................Islands

6............................. Calhoun7...................Savannah Arts8................Lumpkin County9..................Oconee County10..................Pierce County

6.................. Pace Academy7................................ Dublin8....................... Benedictine9...................... Long County10............Riverside Military

6................. Holy Innocents’7..............................Bremen8....................Lamar County9..................... East Laurens10.............................Harlem

Score Atlanta Boys Soccer Rankings Score Atlanta Girls Soccer Rankings

Class AAAAAA Class AAAAAA

1................................Dalton2........................ Greenbrier3................ Houston County4...........................McIntosh5........................ Starr’s Mill

1...........................McIntosh2........................ Starr’s Mill3..........................Northgate4..........................Columbus5........................ Gainesville

6............. Heritage-Conyers7.........................Gainesville 8...........................Sequoyah9......................... Riverwood10...............Glynn Academy

6............. Heritage-Conyers 7.......................... Alexander8.........................Greenbrier9........................River Ridge10............................... Rome

Class AAAAA Class AAAAA

1................Dawson County2.............................Calhoun3..................... Westminster4..................Blessed Trinity5...........................West Hall

1..................Blessed Trinity2..................... Westminster3............................. Decatur4.........................Adairsville 5.................Dawson County

Class AAA Class AAA

1...........................St. Pius X2........ Woodward Academy3............................ Johnson4....................North Oconee5..........................North Hall

1................................Marist2........ Woodward Academy3...........................St. Pius X4............................Veterans5............................... Buford

6.................Eagle’s Landing7........................Whitewater8...........................LaGrange9.......................... Carrollton 10.........Southeast Whitfield

6............................ Spalding7........................Whitewater8..................... Locust Grove9.................................Grady10..................Mary Persons

Class AAAA Class AAAA

1..Greater Atlanta Christian2...................... Thomasville3.......................... Wesleyan4.................Holy Innocents’5................................ Lovett

1..Greater Atlanta Christian2................................ Lovett3.......................... Wesleyan4..................Pace Academy5......................St. Vincent’s

Class AA Class AA

1..............................Paideia2........... Stratford Academy3........... Atlanta Intl. School4.........Fellowship Christian5......First Presbyterian Day

1......First Presbyterian Day2.........Fellowship Christian3..............................Paideia 4...............Athens Academy5.......... Savannah Christian

6...........Savannah Christian7..... Savannah Country Day8.................St. Anne Pacelli9..........Landmark Christian10.............Hebron Christian

6..... Savannah Country Day7............................. Aquinas8...............Hebron Christian9........ Providence Christian10......................Brookstone

Class A Class A

12 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

Yes, the regular season is in the books for col-lege basketball. Georgia ended theirs with 20

wins and goes into this week’s SEC basketball tournament as the third seed in the conference. The Bulldogs got their by virtue of a win over Auburn in their last game of the season. Plus, they were able to leapfrog LSU and Texas A&M to get to that point. With Georgia landing the three seed for the tournament, they will not play until Sat-urday night. Would you like even more good news? The Bulldogs would not have to face un-defeated Kentucky until the conference tour-nament finals, should both teams make it to that point. As of right now, Georgia will have to wait and see who wins between South Carolina/Missouri on Wednesday night. Then, they’ll have to see who emerges from the Ole Miss and winner of that Wednesday game contest. Many NCAA tournament field predictors still have Georgia making it to March Madness. That said, surely head coach Mark Fox and team will be trying to pad that resume even more for the tournament committee.

It came down to an instate battle that pitted the old guard (Georgia State, 22-9) vs. the

newcomers (Georgia Southern, 21-8) to de-cide the regular season Sun Belt champion on Saturday. The Panthers fell to the Eagles just a month earlier, 58-54 and had their sights set on revenge. Georgia State did just that as they dominated Georgia Southern, 72-55 to win its second consecutive regular season title. R.J. Hunter, who had struggled with his shooting percentage for the bulk of the season, explod-ed for 35 points on 8-of-17 shooting to lead the Panthers to another title. Hunter finished 16-of-16 from the line and forced the issue offensive-ly. The junior scored 23 points in the second half after Ryan Harrow was injured. Harrow suffered a mild hamstring strain and scored five points in 14 minutes of play. Jelani Hewitt and Trent Weideman fin-ished with 17 and 15 points respectively for the Eagles. They managed to cut the lead to 38-34

Coaches stress the importance of a fast start to a season, and the Georgia Tech Yellow

Jackets are taking that to heart. The Yellow Jackets are off to a 12-4 start including seven wins out of their last eight games. The Jackets are coming off of their first ACC three-game series, and took two out of the three games from the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this past weekend. After dropping the first game in 12 innings 3-2 the Jackets won the remaining two games, outscoring the Irish 15-8 to give them a 2-1 record in ACC play. The 2-1 start is good enough for a share of the lead with Virginia in the Coastal division. The Jackets concluded their 8-game home stand coming off of a 16-run drubbing of Georgia Southern this past Tuesday, 22-6 behind four RBI from Blake John-son. Johnson finished his night at the plate go-ing 2-3 and added a homerun. With the Jackets already up 18-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Johnson stepped up to the plate with ideas of

It was a strong weekend for the baseball team as they were able to take two of three games

from UAB at Stillwell Stadium. On Friday, the Owls won 8-4, and the Owls scored those eight runs on 13 hits, which is the most hits they have produced this sea-son. Chris Erwin led the Owls, going 3-for-4 at the plate. The Owls also got a combined two homers and five RBIs from Grant Williams, Kal Simmons and Colin Bennett. “We scored a lot of runs early with some home runs,” Head coach Mike Sansing said to KSUOwls.com. “It was nice to see our guys ag-gressive at the plate.” On Saturday, the Owls defeated the Blaz-ers again 6-3 to secure the weekend series. The pitching was the story for the Owls as Tra-vis Bergen and A.J. Moore allowed three runs on 11 hits. Bergen earned his second win of the year by allowing just one run and striking out five batters in 6.2 inning of work. “Bergen threw a lot of pitches today, but

SEEKING SHELTER… We were tipped off a few weeks ago at the quarterly athletic association meeting that plans were moving forward for this indoor fa-cility to be closer to becoming a reality. Earlier this week, those words gained traction with the athletic department releasing artist renderings of the building. The images were posted on the athletic department’s official website, GeorgiaDogs.com. An attached statement from J Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity was also on the page. The proposed location is already on the site of the Butts-Mehre Athletic Complex off Lumpkin street in Athens. Georgia’s football and track programs al-ready use that area of campus. The proposed indoor facility looks as if it would take up real estate that is currently being used as practice field for the Bulldogs football program. In the written statement, McGarity says they are still very much in the planning phas-es of this project. However, he does add that donors are already showing a lot of interest in funding this athletic facility. This facility will be used by more pro-grams than just football. McGarity says that more information about the progress of this facility will be added to GeorgiaDogs.com, as it becomes available. The good news is that it looks like reality is in the future for the indoor facility at Georgia.

with 15:30 to play, but the Panthers answered with a 14-7 run capped off by two R.J. Hunter threes to put the game out of reach. “When I came to Georgia State, a lot of people told me how hard it would be to win here,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “I was think-ing a lot about that this morning. We have done a lot of great things here in four years, but I also know that this season is not done yet. The sup-port from our alums, fans and students has been incredible and seeing everyone packed into the arena today made me extremely proud and I know I made the right decision to be a Panther.”

HARROW HONORED ... On March 24, senior guard Ryan Harrow will be honored by the Atlanta Tipoff Club as the Georgia’s Men’s College Player of the Year. The ceremony will take place at the Georgia Inter-national Convention Center. Harrow ranks 13th in the nation in scoring at 20.2 points per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field.

WORLEY WHIRLS A GEM ... In game two of a doubleheader with Troy on Saturday, junior Katie Worley tossed a no-hitter. She struck out 14 batters en route to Georgia State’s first no-no since 2011. The Pan-thers (16-2) won 4-0 and recorded a program record 12th straight victory. Monday Worley was named Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week for the first time in her career.

increasing the damage. And with one swing of the bat Johnson did just that as he sent a ball out of the park for the grand slam homerun to give the Jackets 22 runs, their most of the sea-son. Georgia Tech will now head into Durham North Carolina to take on the Duke Blue Dev-ils in a three-game series starting tomorrow night. Duke is coming off of two losses at the hands of the North Carolina Tar Heels and is currently one game behind the Jackets in the ACC standings.

FITTING ENDING… The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team managed to stop the bleeding in what has been disastrous season after losing in the first round of the ACC tournament to Boston College, 66-65. Freshman guard Tadric Jackson led the Jackets in scoring with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field. The one point loss runs the Jackets total to seven losses by three points or less. The Jackets’ Marcus Georges-Hunt was ruled out of the tournament after suffering a broken foot against the North Caro-lina Tar heels in their last regular season game of the season. The Jackets will now wait and see if their name gets called for an NIT tourna-ment bid but will likely hang it up for the year and be ready to go for the 2015-2016 season come next November.

I thought he pitched well for us.” Sansing said after the game. But Sunday was not the same story as the Owls fell in the finale 8-5. Pitcher Gabe Friese was strong for the Owls, allowing three earned runs in 7.2 innings, and the Owls led 5-3 going into the ninth inning. But the Blazers bats woke up in the ninth, scoring five runs to secure the win. The Owls looked to bounce back on Tues-day as they took on Georgia State, but the Panthers were able to run past KSU 13-3. Both teams battled early in the contest as they were tied at three after the third inning. But the Pan-thers scored nine runs in the fourth inning, and the Owls could not bounce back. They will try to break the losing streak this weekend when they travel to Winthrop for a three-game set.

FOOTBALL UPDATE… With the spring game right around the corner, the KSU Athletic Department has established a Gameday Central page on KSUOwls.com. There, you can find any infor-mation about the team, the stadium, tickets and upcoming games. One of the things mentioned on the page is tickets concerning the spring game. The ticket for the game is part of the season ticket package, so season ticket holders have their ticket already. If any tickets for the Black and Gold game become available, more informa-tion will be released in two weeks.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

GEORGIA STATE

GEORGIA TECH

KENNESAW STATE

BY DAN MATHEWS | DMATHEWS@SCOREATL.COM

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

BY COLIN HUBBARD | CHUBBARD@SCOREATL.COM

BY BRIAN JONES | BJONES@SCOREATL.COM

MEN’S BASKETBALL ENTERS SEC TOURNEY

PANTHERS CLINCH REGULAR SEASON TITLE; WORLEY DAZZLES

BASEBALL CONTINUES HOT PLAY, WINNERS OF 7 OF PAST 8

BASEBALL WINS SERIES AGAINST UAB; NEW FOOTBALL PAGE UNVEILED

13Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

Atlanta (50-13) became the first team to 50 wins this season on Monday when they

clobbered the visiting Sacramento Kings (21-41) behind 20 3-pointers and a season-high 130 points, 130-105. The Hawks jumped out to a quick lead and led 33-20 after the first quarter and did not allow the Kings back in the game. A 43-point second quarter delivered the early knockout blow and handed the Hawks a 76-54 advantage heading into the half. While the Kings shot a respectable 48.1 percent, At-lanta was unconscious hitting 60.2 percent of its shots and nailing 20-of-36 from deep, good for 55.6 percent. Kyle Korver who had been slumping since the All-Star break, found his form and buried six threes en route to a team-high 20 points. De-Marre Carroll also pitched in 20 while Al Hor-ford and Jeff Teague both finished with 18 points of their own. Teague once again masterfully ran one of the NBA’s most unselfish offenses col-lecting 13 assists while turning it over just three

You don’t see this every day—and you will never see it in a regular-season game: nine

pitchers combined for a 10-inning no-hitter last Sunday as the Braves tied the Houston Astros 2-2 in a spring training tilt in Kissimmee, Fla. Cody Martin got the start and went two in-nings; the other eight pitchers took the mound for one inning apiece. They were Jim Johnson, Josh Outman, Brandon Cunniff, Ian Thomas, Mauricio Cabrera, Lucas Sims, Justin Jackson and Jairo Heredia. Houston scored twice off Cabrera in the seventh inning. The first two batters walked, another was hit by a pitch and two runs scored on consecutive groundouts. Martin, an outside contender for the fifth spot in Atlanta’s start-ing rotation, walked two and struck out three. Braves’ pitchers walked a total of nine Astros, although Johnson, Cunniff, Jackson and Heredia delivered entirely clean sheets. “I knew [they had a no-hitter going] from

The Atlanta Falcons announced Tuesday that they have agreed to terms with linebacker

Justin Durant, guard Mike Person, and line-backer Brooks Reed. The club has also agreed resigned running back Antone Smith. “We are excited about adding these guys to our team,” said Head Coach Dan Quinn. “We believe that they all possess skill sets that fit our schemes and will be pieces to what we are putting together. This is just the first step in putting our roster together and I am fired up about getting to connect and work with all of our guys come April 6.” Durant was originally selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round (48th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft out of Hampton and played four seasons in Jacksonville before signing with the Detroit Lions in 2011. After two seasons with the Lions, Durant signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2013. He has played in 95 games with 80 starts while totaling tackles 512 tackles (406 solo), 3.5 sacks, three inter-ceptions, five forced fumbles, three fumble re-

The final meeting of the season between the East division leading Florida Everblades (37-

13-2-4) and the cellar dwelling last place Gwin-nett Gladiators (17-36-3-2) turned out to be as lopsided as the matchup looked on paper. Gwin-nett got hammered 7-2 at home on Sunday af-ter four goal second period busted things open. After allowing a goal just 1:02 into the game the Gladiators answered with two Greg Carey goals. Carey netted his 11th goal of the season during a power play and less than five minutes later picked up his 12th on a Garry Nunn feed. A Florida goal would tie the game heading into the second period where the action was dominated by the Everblades. Gwinnett man-aged to outshoot Florida, but four out of the Blades’ eight shots were sent past goaltender Mike Lee. Four different players would score during the period. Lee would subsequently be yanked and replaced by Mark Guggenberger. Six unanswered goals led by Matt Marquardt and Brant Harris’s two apiece highlighted the

times. “We’ll pass up a good shot to get a great shot,” said Carroll, who scored all of his points in the first half, “When you have guys that don’t care about the glory, this is the result.”

THE TEAM TO BEAT? ... Time and time again the Hawks have been doubted. Pundits refuse to believe Atlanta as a true title contender, but once again the Hawks silenced the doubters as they defeated the fast charging Cavaliers (39-25) for the third time the season, 106-97. With the win, Atlanta clinches the season series three games to one. The home standing Hawks came out of the gates red hot and took a 36-19 lead into the second quarter. The emotion of legend Domi-nique Wilkins’ statue being unveiled along with the retro jerseys had the team focused and ready to deliver. Carroll harassed LeBron James all night and held him to 18 points and forced nine turnovers. “I wanted to be a gnat,” Carroll said. “You know, when you’re outside in the summer, and you can’t get that gnat away from you.” Six Hawks scored in double digits highlighted by 19 points and nine rebounds from Al Horford and Dennis Schroders’ 15 points and eight assists off the bench.

UP NEXT ... Atlanta kicks off a season long six game road trip against Western Conference teams. The journey begins Wednesday night at 9 P.M. against the Denver Nuggets (23-41).

like the sixth inning on,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said afterward. “It didn’t feel like it. What did we end up walking? Eleven? Nine? I’ve never seen that. Only in spring training do you see weird stuff like a 10-inning no-hitter and 2-2 score.” The Braves had a record of 3-4-2 follow-ing back-to-back wins over the Nationals and Mets on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. This weekend’s slate of action includes games against the Tigers, Mets, Astros and Blue Jays.

EYJ OFF TO HOT START ... You also don’t often see a player who is 2-for-11 at the plate impressing to a greater ex-tent than almost anyone. Eric Young Jr., howev-er, has a .400 on-base percentage as of Tuesday night’s spring training action thanks to three walks and a hit-by-pitch. The 2013 National League stolen base leader also has three steals. Young, who is on a minor-league contract but in contention to at least temporarily replace an in-jured Melvin Upton Jr. in center field for Atlanta, also hit the difference-making two-run homer in the recent victory over Washington. “Coming in on a minor-league deal might be the chip on his shoulder that he needed,” good friend and frequent workout partner Jonny Gomes told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It’s a good reality-check. It happens quick in this game. He’s hitting the ground running, just like I’m sure he wanted to…. Speed doesn’t slump; that’s known in this game.”

coveries, and 19 passes defensed. Person was originally selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round (239th overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft out of Montana State. He spent time with the 49ers, Indianap-olis Colts, and Seattle Seahawks before being claimed off of waivers by the St. Louis Rams in 2013. Person has played in 17 games in his ca-reer, including all 16 games last season. Reed was a 2011 second round pick by the Houston Texans out of Arizona. He started 52 of 59 career games, recording 211 tackles (122 solo), 14.5 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries in four sea-sons in Houston.

OTHER MOVES… Prior to Day 1 of free agency, the Falcons were deep into their offseason roster changes. Atlanta released starters RB Steven Jackson, WR Harry Douglas and OG Justin Blalock while waiving DE Jonathan Massaquoi. Defen-sive tackle Corey Peters and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon are being sent to the Arizona Cardinals. The Falcons did retain the contracts of QB T.J. Yates, kicker Matt Bryant along with FB Patrick DiMarco, DE Cliff Matthews, LB Nate Stupar, S Charles Godfrey and WR Eric Weems. Linebacker Allen Bradford, a 6th Round pick out of USC in 2011 and wideout Nick Wil-liams, an undrafted free agent out of UConn in 2013, are early newcomers to the roster.

onslaught for the Everblades. This Friday at 7:35 P.M., the South Carolina Stingrays visit the Gwinnett Center for the final time this season.

WALKER DEALT ... Forward Brendan Walker was traded on Monday to the Utah Grizzlies for future con-siderations. The 22-year-old had been with the team since 2013 and appeared in 110 games. He was third in scoring on this year’s team with 15 goals and 27 assists accounting for 42 points. Walker led the Gladiators in shot attempts this season with 149. Last season he led Gwinnett with 22 goals.

NEW ATTACK LED BY LUCIANI ... The Gwinnett Gladiators announced that they have traded for Toledo Walleye forward Anthony Luciani in exchange for defenseman Joe Stejskal. Luciani will key the Gladiator attack now that Walker has been traded. The 24-year-old has had a terrific season with Toledo leading the team in scoring with 58 points on 21 goals and 37 assists. He should bring a much needed lift to one of the ECHL’s lowest scoring teams. The forward spent the previous three seasons in the Florida Panthers organization, splitting his time between the Cincinnati Cyclones and the San Antonio Rampage from 2011 to 2014. Stejs-kal had been Gwinnett’s leading defensive scor-er tallying 22 points. Luciani should be ready for action in Gwinnett’s next game this Friday.

ATLANTA HAWKS

ATLANTA BRAVES

ATLANTA FALCONS

GWINNETT GLADIATORS

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

HAWKS PROVE THEY ARE BEASTS OF THE EAST

NINE BRAVES PITCHERS COMBINE FOR SPRING TRAINING NO-NO

FALCONS BULK UP LINEBACKING CORPS

GLADIATORS SHAKE UP LINEUP WITH TRADES

14 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

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THE HAWKS DISHED OUT 42 ASSISTS IN MONDAY’S 130-105 VICTORY OVER

SACRAMENTO.

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15Vol. 11 Iss. 9 | March 13-19, 2015

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