VOLUME 12 ISSUE 3 | JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 3, 2016 | YOUR SOURCE FOR SPORTS IN GEORGIA

Time to look great!

DECISION DAY

Undecided stars add drama to National Signing Day 2016. | Pg. 7

The Golden Boy | Pg. 4

St. Pius star Kerney Lane leads the Golden Lions with increased production.

Battle for DeKalb | Pg. 4

Miller Grove holds off Southwest DeKalb in star-studded region showdown.

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3Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016

PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. Rosenberg

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ Galbiati Blalock

MANAGING EDITOR Craig Sager II

ASST. MANAGING EDITOR Kyle Sandy

MARKETING/ Lauren Goldstein PARTNERSHIP DIRECTOR

BUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

BEAT WRITERS: Ricky Dimon (Braves) Colin Hubbard (GA Tech) Dan Mathews (UGA) Craig Sager II (Falcons, Kennesaw) Kyle Sandy (Transfer Corner, GSU, Hawks) STAFF WRITERS Tyler Andrews Ned Kaish

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Snow and ice wrecked most of the week’s ac-tion, but that still didn’t stop Class AAAAAA

from seeing some major changes. It had been over five years since No. 8 Shiloh had lost back-to-back region games before the Gener-als were shocked by Central Gwinnett 61-58 on Tuesday. No. 5 Newton is the main beneficiary of the movement, as the Rams continue to rise. No. 4 Tift County suffered a major blow with leading scorer and rebounder Preston Horne tearing his ACL and now being out for the year. The Blue Devils did however pick up a big win on Tuesday, surviving at home against Collins Hill (16-3), 50-48, in the process knocking the Eagles out of the top ten. Rayshaun Ham-monds once again caused problems for Collins Hill, posting 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kenny Stanciel gave the Eagles a big lift with a career-

high 20 points while TeShaun Hightower (3) and Kai Lambert (1) were held to a combined four points. Coming off a 76-74 win over Berk-mar, No. 10 Grayson finds itself back in the poll. In AAAAA, No. 8 Warner Robins used a Jacolbey Owens three-pointer at the buzzer to knock off rival Northside-Warner Robins 60-57 and hand Coach Jamaal Garman his 100th career win. No. 10 Effingham County continued to make a statement in Region 3 with a 72-66 win over defending state champion Brunswick. The Pirates had won 9-straight before the loss. No. 3 McIntosh held off Morrow 68-63 behind Jordan Lyons’ 25 points. No. 7 Upson-Lee took care of business against Perry 72-62, to take a share of first-place in Region 2-AAAA and advance its win-ning streak to 10 games. Senior O’Qualon Har-

ris (17.2 ppg) and sophomore Ty Fagan (17.9 ppg) have powered the Knights this season. No. 9 Worth County earned another good win against Westover, 70-63. Walnut Grove (17-3) slips out of the top ten after a two-game losing streak, the Warriors’ most recent loss coming to Henry County 84-68.

TITLE HOPEFUL Class AAA saw a state title contender emerge as No. 2 South Atlanta led wire-to-wire against 1A-Private No. 1 Greenforest at the Blue Collar Basketball MLK Showcase, earning a 62-57 win. Jenkins falls three spots to No. 5 following a 66-59 loss to Johnson-Savannah, who debuts in the polls at No. 10. No. 4 Laney moves up a spot with an 80-60 beat down of Westside-Au-gusta, who now tumbles out of the top ten. Class AA’s most dynamic player, Jordan Harris (UGA) of No. 2 Seminole County, went off for 47 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks and six three-pointers and six dunks in a 86-62 win over Berrien. Without teammate Anfernee King suited up to play, Harris had no problem taking full control of the game. No. 5 Vidalia lost 62-58 to new No. 10 Swainsboro and falls two slots. Pace Academy now holds the No. 4 ranking and is only one game over .500, but has won 7-straight. GAC just misses staying in the top ten following a 42-39 loss to Pace. No. 7 Dublin has quietly worked its way up the rankings and has won 10-straight.

No. 5 Whitefield Academy finally slayed the dragon that is their arch-nemesis No. 4 St. Francis, 75-73. Isaiah Hart and Brendon Myles had monster games for the Wolf Pack. Hart fin-ished with 37 points, five assists and two blocks while Myles went for 25 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. St. Anne-Pacelli (13-7) finally slips out of the top ten after holding strong the first nine weeks. Losses to Marion County 76-64 and Central-Talbotton 88-79 did the Vikings in. Both they and Hebron (14-6) fall out. The Lions only lasted one week in the poll before be-ing thumped by No. 6 Lakeview Academy 65-48 and Tallulah Falls 67-53. No. 9 King’s Ridge and No. 10 Walker make an appearance in the top ten. Walker returns for the first time since Week 3 when it started 5-1. King’s Ridge debuts and has played well this year. In Class A-Public, No. 1 Hancock Cen-tral completes its ascension to the top of the state following No. 3 Treutlen’s 66-51 loss to No. 7 Calhoun County, knocking the Vikings from their perch. After a 5-5 start, Coach Ta-sha Kimble’s No. 4 Turner County Rebels are red-hot, winning 11 in a row including demol-ishing Hawkinsville 70-48 and No. 6 Atkinson County 82-46. Photo courtesy of Ty Freeman.

“A workhorse. He’s an absolute gym-rat. I’ve never quite been around somebody

who loves the game as much as him. He loves it, he lives it, sleeps it, breathes it and he’s somebody that when the lights turn on and when the crowd’s big, his game rises.” That is what St. Pius X Head Coach Aaron Parr said at DeKalb County Media Day of se-nior forward Kerney Lane. The Golden Lions, coming off of a school-record 25-win season and a Sweet 16 appearance, have relied heavily on the southpaw since he moved to town for his junior season. Born in San Luis Obispo, California, his mother elected to move the family to the East coast to be closer to relatives. It turned out to be a good decision and a blessing for the Gold-

en Lions as Lane earned First Team All-Region honors last year and now has St. Pius at 17-2 and ranked No. 3 in Class AAAA. Going from California to possibly the toughest region in the state, Lane explained that the competition in Georgia is a bit fiercer. “In California I went to a small catholic school with like 400 kids and we played other catholic schools that were around the same size,” said Kerney. “So I’d say that the competi-tion here is a little more competitive just be-cause of people being taller and more athletic. Just the skill of play is probably a lot higher be-cause Atlanta is obviously a big city.”

KING OF THE JUNGLE Playing in Region 6 means there are no

days off. Entering the season, four teams were ranked among the top ten. Fast forward to Week 9 and the Region boasts No. 2 Lithonia, No. 3 St. Pius and No. 4 Grady, with Lithonia and Grady both holding the No. 1 spot in the state for multiple weeks. The Golden Lions have never been known as a high-flying act or a power plant for Divi-sion-I talent, so how have they been able to compete with the likes of Lithonia and Grady with Bucknell-commit Avi Toomer and even a prestigious program such as Columbia? “Focusing on details has put us in a great position,” said Lane of the Golden Lions’ current 42-7 two-year span. “I think we’re a very re-spectful team because of our defense and how we shoot the ball and how we play well in big moments. Last year we had the most wins Pius has ever had because we did the small things.” Simply put, with all the success St. Pius has had, it all boils down to one thing. “It has a lot to do with our coaches and our players all wanting the same thing, which is to win. I think that Coach Parr has set us up for each of us to succeed in the right moment.” The smooth lefty has averaged 18.5 points and 7 rebounds per game this season, mean-ing he is St. Pius’ go-to guy on offense; a role Kerney embraces.

“I’m a really big competitor. I just think that when my team needs me, I’ll step up for them. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY A player with the right size and versa-tile skillset to score either inside or outside is something college programs crave. So why is one of the Peach state’s best unsigned seniors still available? During the travel season with the Atlanta All-Stars Lane tore his meniscus in June which caused him to miss some time during the hotly recruited summer months. The adversity of the slight setback did not hin-der Lane’s ability to stay positive and work his knee back into shape. With the numbers he is producing his senior year, no one can question that Kerney is back to 100 percent. Programs such as Elon, Holy Cross and UNC-Asheville have remained in touch with Lane and have shown interest while Georgia College and North Georgia have put forth of-fers for the 6-foot-6 forward’s services. “It’s been difficult at times but I think that by working hard and playing well, coaches will re-main in contact,” said Kerney of his recruitment process which has slowly began to heat up. Photo courtesy of Teresa Penley Sheppard.

SANDY’S SPIEL 2

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

ST. PIUS GOLDEN BEHIND PLAY OF KERNEY LANE

SANDY’S SPIEL

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

WINTER WEATHER THROWS WRENCH IN WEEKEND SLATE

5Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016

Know a young athlete who overcame a serious injury or illness? Nominate them for Comeback Athlete of the Month at choa.org/comeback.

This comeback athlete had a long road back. Today it’s 8.5 miles.

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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.

WH

O’S

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NOT

Calhoun Basketball

Atlanta FalconsAlterique Gilbert No. 1 TeamsCarolina Panthers

Kickers

The Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 3 in AAA and is one of the state’s two unbeatens left regardless of classification. Calhoun is 19-0 while No. 2 Al-latoona is undefeated as well in Class AAAAA. The Jackets have some sting to them thanks to dual-sport stars. Quarterback Kaelan Riley is heading to Mer-cer but leads Calhoun in scoring and rebounding while Wofford bound Jireh Wilson isn’t too shabby on the hardwood either as a 1,000-point scorer.

Raheem Morris to offense? A long-time defensive backs coach with no offensive expe-rience is now being asked to coach the wide receivers. The long running joke is that de-fensive backs play defense in-stead of offense because they can’t catch the ball. How will Julio Jones and Morris lead this year’s receiving corps? Let’s hope Morris doesn’t drop the ball.

The Miller Grove point guard was named a McDonalds All-American and is headed to UConn to play college ball. He came up big against rival Southwest DeKalb on Tues-day, scoring nine of Miller Grove’s 10 fourth quarter points to hold on for a 53-45 victory. Expect the senior to lead the Wolverines back to Macon in Class AAAAA.

Class AAAAAA and A-Public’s No. 1 boys teams both fell on Tuesday night. Westlake was upset by Campbell 81-80, while No. 10 Lincoln County shocked No. 1 Hancock Cen-tral 61-58. The state playoffs are quickly approaching with region tournaments right around the corner. Follow sandysspiel.com for the most up to date coverage of all things GHSA basketball.

Hard to believe that the Panthers’ only loss this season came to the Falcons. Carolina annihilated Carson Palmer and the Cardinals 49-15 to set up a Super Bowl 50 showdown with Peyton Manning. All signs point to the Panthers rolling old man Manning, but the Broncos defense is possibly the best in the league and should keep Denver close.

Blair Walsh and now Stephen Gostkowski. The maligned position of kicker has only one job: boot the ball through the upright. Walsh missed a bunny that sent home his Minnesota Vikings and now Gostkowski’s extra point blunder proved costly as the Patriots lost by two to the Broncos. How about we just eliminate place kick-ers once and for all outside of kickoffs?

SCORE LISTBy Craig Sager II

NUMBERSBy Kyle Sandy

DECISION DAYGeorgia’s top 3 ranked senior remain undecided as Feb. 3 inches closer. Lanier’s Derrick Brown leads the trio of five-stars and is a top target for UGA’s already loaded Class of 2016. Brown was named AJC All-Classification Player of the Year and at 6-foot-4, 320 pounds is expected to be an impact player at the college level. All eyes will be on Brown this next week.

Cam Newton has done it. The MVP front runner led Carolina to a 49-15 waxing of the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship. After winning three-straight division titles, Newton is on the cusp of completing one of the most impressive seasons by an individual the League has seen in years. If the Panthers beat the Broncos in Super Bowl 50, that will leave Atlanta as the only team without a Super Bowl in the NFC South.

SUPER CAM

SIGNING DAY FRENZYThe third annual National Signing Day Frenzy around the corner as National Signing Day quickly approaches. This year’s comprehensive coverage includes the entire state as we track down every commit and signee. Visit signingdayfrenzy.com for our list of Georgia signees and all the event details as we prepare for another outstanding class of Peach State products.

WELCOME HOMEChipper Jones is making Atlanta his permanent home again. After spending a year and a half living the majority of the time on his ranch in southwest Texas, Jones announced his decision to move back to Atlanta full-time. “Home is Atlanta,” said Jones. “It’s always going to be Atlanta. I’ve lived in Atlanta for 20-plus years. I’m happiest there.”

CLOSING STRONGThe Hawks have just two weeks until the All-Star break and a chance to go into the unofficial half of the season with a top 3 seed. Atlanta currently sits 5.5 games back of Eastern Conference leader Cleveland and just 2 games behind No. 2 seed Toronto. The Hawks have eight games in the next two weeks, including five on the road and seven against conference foes.

? “

ANSWER ON PAGE 14 - Dan Quinn on Roddy White’s future

TRIVIA QUESTION

SANITY AT LAST

WHO IS THE LAST HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER TO WIN A

SUPER BOWL?

“Well, he’s under contract now, and he’s

one of the guys that I feel strongly on in

terms of the competitor and the leader and the

teammate [he is].”

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Cam Newton’s passer rating this postseason

Cam Newton’s passer rating during the regular season

Odds in Vegas that Super Bowl 50 is Peyton Manning’s last game as a Bronco

Points averaged per game by the Atlanta Hawks

Team-high rebounds per game by Paul Millsap

Points per game by Hawks small forward Kent Bazemore this season

Points per game last season by Bazemore

Assists per game by the Hawks (2nd to Golden State’s 29 per game)

7Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016

The future of college football will be ready-made next Wednesday (Feb. 3) as National

Signing Day 2016 corrals the next class of col-legiate stars. The Peach State’s Class of 2016 has once again attracted programs from across the country and will be center stage as its top prospects make their final decisions. The top 3 ranked recruits in the state of Georgia are still undecided and it will be a fight for the finish for this trio of five stars and many more impact players waiting to sign. Leading the undecided stars is Lanier’s defensive tackle Derrick Brown. The 6-foot-4, 317-pound lineman was named Atlanta Jour-nal Constitution All-Classification Player of the Year this past season. The athletic and disrup-tive defender tallied 106 tackles, 42 tackles for loss and 13 sacks in Lanier’s 12-game season. As a result, Brown became the first AJC all-classification player of the year whose team did not make at least the quarterfinals in the past 30 years. His head coach Korey Mobbs knows the type of athlete Brown has become.

“The kid can easily dunk a basketball at 320 pounds,’’ Mobbs told the AJC. “Most people think of a player of his stature as a hole-plugger or tackle-to-tackle guy, but he really shows his athleticism on plays to the outside, or wide receiver screens where he makes the play for no gain, or when running plays down from the backside where he lays out like a big-time athlete.’’ Brown also blocked kicks, took carries and caught touchdown passes this season and gave a glimpse into the complete package a lucky college will land next week. East Pauld-ing fell 27-13 to Brown and the Longhorns this season and head coach Jon Lindsey was im-pressed with the talent and effort of the state’s top prospect. “We wanted to know where he was lined up on every play,’’ said Lindsey. “We felt like we could not block him, so we used him as the read in our option scheme. I have coached against several big-time recruits, and the thing that impressed me the most was how hard he played. He did not take a lot of plays off. I was

very impressed.’’ Brown’s leading schools are Alabama, Au-burn, Georgia and Tennessee.

PLAYMAKING POTENTIAL Fellow five-star Mecole Hardman Jr. out of Elbert County will have the college foot-ball world also keeping track of his decision this Wednesday. Hardman is a U.S. Army All-American that is being heavily recruited by Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Ohio State. Hardman is interested with the idea of play-ing for the Buckeyes with Dwayne Haskins Jr., the four-star quarterback who flipped from Maryland to OSU. Hardman recently changed his Twitter profile header to an edit of himself and Haskins in Ohio State jerseys. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound athlete quarterbacked Elbert County this past season but can be used as an explosive receiver, running back, return man and possibly defensive back at the next level. Hardman practiced at defensive back be-fore moving over to wide receiver at the U.S. Army All-American game, where he account-ed for 143 all-purpose yards with three catches for 36 yards, one carry for five yards, two punt returns for 57 yards and two kickoff returns for 45 yards. Hardman is coming off a senior sea-son that saw him pass for more than 700 yards and rush for more than 2,100 yards. Further south, Savannah Christian star Demetris Robertson is waiting to make his anticipated college decision. The five-star re-ceiver could also play a multitude of positions depending on his development. Robertson has narrowed his choices down to Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia and Stanford. Robertson was visited by Georgia’s Glenn Schumann on Jan. 21 and then took an official visit to Ala-bama on Jan. 22. The folloing day, Robertson announced that Notre Dame had become his

COVER STORY

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

TOP PROSPECTS REMAIN UNDECIDED

outright leader. Robertson would be the second five-star recruit Notre Dame has landed in this class if he inks the Irish. Cincinnati (Ohio) Elder five-star offensive tackle Tommy Kraemer, the na-tion’s No. 8 overall player, was the first. Per the 247Sports Composite rankings, Robertson is the No. 14 overall player nation-ally, No. 1 wide receiver in the country and No. 3 player in Georgia from the class of 2016.

CRUNCH TIME National Signing Day is sure to see its annual shuffling of decommits and surprise moves, but there are still plenty of prospects keeping their decisions completely open until the day of. Peachtree Ridge safety Nigel Warrior is expected to make a decision between Tennes-see and Alabama. Warrior is listed as the No. 4 safety in the country and the seventh-ranked prospect in the state. The University of Georgia is hoping to land Archer’s massive offensive tackle E.J. Price on Wednesday. The 6-foot-6, 311-pound lineman took official visits to both Auburn and Georgia this week. Georgia is also expected to land Jackson defensive tackle Mi-chail Carter. The 6-foot-4, 302-pound tackle is the 14th-ranked prospect in the state according to 247sports and is predicted by every recruiting source to sign with the Dawgs next week. In the national class rankings, Alabama currently ranks seventh and Georgia sits at ninth, but that is not a surprise considering recent events. The Tide were busy winning a national championship and are just now pour-ing focus into solidifying this class and Geor-gia’s new coach, Kirby Smart was coordinating Alabama’s championship defense. Expect both Georgia and Bama to keep climbing this week. Photos courtesy of Sonny Kennedy and Jason Mussell.

ON THE COVER

NATIONALSIGNING DAY

WORLD’S LARGEST BE A PART OF THE

SIGNING DAY CELEBRATION

All Metro Atlanta High School Recruits, Coaches & Teams are Invited! Parents, Friends, Cheerleaders, Family & Fans - Come Show Your Support!

Sign your team up for a time by calling Lauren Goldstein at 404.256.1572 or email her at lgoldstein@scoreatl.com

Join us for an afternoon of celebration: FEB. 3 | 11am - 5pm

W W W. S I G N I N G D AY F R E N Z Y. C O M

*Schools will be assigned specific times

STARS & STRIKES8767 Roswell Rd. | Sandy Springs, GA 30350

A 15-5 run had No. 1 Miller Grove seemingly on the ropes after taking its largest lead of

the game 43-30 entering the fourth, but when the Wolverines needed a hoop, they turned to none other than McDonalds All-American and UConn signee Alterique Gilbert to answer the call as Miller Grove held off host No. 9 South-west DeKalb in front of a capacity crowd, 53-45. Southwest DeKalb looked to establish 6-foot-6, 245-pound senior TiQuan Lewis ear-ly on. The Washington County transfer posed problems inside for the slighter Wolverines in their first meeting, posting 19 points and 12 rebounds in a 76-69 loss. On Tuesday, the big man scored the Panthers’ first seven points of the game but was held to two points the rest of the way as Miller Grove began digging down and harassing Lewis with active hands. While Lewis got Southwest DeKalb off

to a quick start, Aaron Augustin began his own scoring spree, slashing to the basket and showing off his outside shot to finish with sev-en of his 10 points in the first quarter, giving the Wolverines a 15-10 lead after one. Augustin sank his final basket of the night, a three-pointer at the 4:06 mark of the second quarter to push the Wolverine lead out to 21-14. Southwest DeKalb leading scorer Keith Gilmore scored just one point in the first quarter but began to find the bottom of the net while it looked like the Panthers were about to lose distance with the Wolverines. The senior scored nine of his team-high 16 points in the second period, but the Panthers still entered the half trailing Miller Grove 34-22.

DEKALB DANDY To open the second half, Southwest

DeKalb made sure to not stray away from the inside game, feeding it to Lewis early on, but Miller Grove caused him to fumble away a few opportunities with its pressure defense. He and Gilmore combined for 17 of the Panthers’ 22 first half points meaning someone else had to step up. While Southwest searched for a third option in the third quarter, Miller Grove slowly began to pull away. Aidan Saunders received a pass in tran-sition and threw down a dunk, the first of the game, to extend the lead to 41-30. Seconds af-ter the gym-rocking slam, the student sections of both teams began to get into it, causing a five-minute stop in the action while teachers and police went into the crowd to make sure nothing got out of hand. After the brief stop-page, Miller Grove added another hoop to give itself a 13-point cushion heading into the final eight minutes. Instead of rolling over and letting the Wol-verines blow them out of their own gym, the Panthers showed some bite of their own. A long and methodical comeback began to take place with Southwest using its helter skelter tempo and press to force Miller Grove into rushed shots and turnovers. Coach Eugene Brown finally found his third and fourth scor-ing options as Nathaniel Ambersley scored six of his 11 points in the fourth while Mandarius

Dickerson added nine points in the game. With 1:10 remaining, Gilmore caught a feed down low and went baseline to lay it up and claw the Panthers within 48-45. Seconds later at the 48.5 mark, Gilbert answered with an And-1 to make it 51-45 and stem the tide. The All-American poured in nine of Miller Grove’s 10 fourth quarter points and took over when Coach Sharman White needed him the most. 29.2 seconds remained when Coach White called a timeout. The Wolverines at-tempted to inbound the ball, but an offensive foul was called, giving the ball back to the Pan-thers still down six. Southwest DeKalb was un-able to score, but forced a turnover with 15 sec-onds left. Gilmore had the ball on what looked like a 3-on-1 fast break, but instead of trying to get the bucket and play the fouling game, he elected to attempt a pull-up three which missed and resulted in a rebound and outlet for a Gilbert run-out dunk with seconds left to end the game. Missed opportunities hurt the Panthers, especially as they entered the bonus with 5:26 left in the fourth, but made only 1-of-5 from the line and finished 8-of-16 for the game. Photos courtesy of Ty Freeman.

PREP SPORTS

NO. 1 MILLER GROVE 53, NO. 9 SOUTHWEST DEKALB 45BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

10 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

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11Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016

Georgia followed up an embarrassing 79-45 home loss to No. 15 Texas A&M on Jan. 16

with back-to-back three-point victories. The Dawgs stamped a 60-57 road win at Missouri last Wednesday and then survived a 76-73 overtime battle with Arkansas last Saturday. The win streak, however was snapped on Tues-day as LSU held off the Dawgs 89-85. Georgia put up a valiant effort as the Ti-gers had a double-digit lead with less than a minute to play. LSU would have to hold off a last-second shot to escape with the win. J.J. Frazier led Georgia with 26 points, all but five coming in the second half. Kenny Gaines scored 20 points, while Charles Mann had 19. A tight game was opened up in the second half when LSU connected on four 3-pointers in a three-minute span to go up by double figures for the first time. Jalyn Patterson made three, while Tim Quarterman had the other one. The long-range sharp shooting fueled a

Appalachian State (5-14, 3-5) buried 12 threes and held onto an 18-point lead to

upset Georgia State (12-5, 5-3) on Thursday night, 76-67 at the Holmes Convention Center. The Mountaineers used an avalanche of threes to upend and unsuspected Panther team. Frank Eaves, the Sun Belt’s leading scorer, poured in 25 points and nailed five threes. Ronshad Shabazz cashed in 20 points and Chris Burgess added 12. App State led 38-22 at the half after mak-ing 6-of-13 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. With under 16 minutes to play, the Mountaineers pushed their lead to a game-high 18-point advantage, 46-28, but the Panthers be-gan to chip away. Georgia State cut the lead to 51-43 with 8:57 left and finally got within two possessions at 70-64 with 57 seconds remain-ing, but the Panthers could claw no closer. Junior Isaiah Dennis, a former Eagle’s Land-ing standout, scored a career-high 18 points. Jeff Thomas netted 17 and Kevin Ware scored 11 while leading scorer Jeremy Hollowell was held

Georgia Tech will begin with its 2016 season on Sept. 3 with season opener in Dublin,

Ireland against Boston College. After two non-conference games (Mercer and Vanderbilt), the next league matchup will be against what would appear to be its strongest opponent, ACC champion Clemson, on a short week of rest. The home game with the Tigers is the only Thursday game of the season. After Clemson, the Jackets host Miami and then play at Pittsburgh. Back-to-back home games with Georgia Southern and Duke close out the month of October and then No-vember opens with a Nov. 5 trip to North Caro-lina to battle the Tar Heels. Tech goes to Vir-ginia Tech the following week, before returning home for their final conference game, a Nov. 19 matchup with Virginia. The Jackets close the season at Georgia on Nov. 26.

SUPER BOWL BOUND Four former Yellow Jackets punched their tickets last Sunday to Super Bowl 50. Denver defeated New England 20-18 in the AFC Cham-

Redshirt sophomore Taylor Allum has been named to the Atlantic Sun Conference

Preseason All-Conference baseball team, an-nounced Wednesday (Jan. 27) afternoon by the league office. “It’s a great honor to see Taylor Allum get selected to the Atlantic Sun Conference Pre-season All-Conference team,” said head coach Mike Sansing “If you look at the selections this year, you can see it has a very talented group and for Taylor to be included is a tremendous honor. He is coming off an All-American sea-son and I am looking forward to seeing him compete this year.” Allum has been named one of three A-Sun Preseason All-Conference outfielders af-ter posting a .320 batting average in 41 total games in 2015 – which ranked second on the Owls’ rosters. Allum, who played outfield for the majority of the 2015 season, also hit an in-credible .415 in league play, totaling 27 hits and produced 10 RBI in conference action.

ON THE COURT Redshirt junior Kendrick Ray and former Berkmar standout Yonel Brown remain the

19-7 run and a basket by Quarterman put LSU in front 80-66 with 2:27 remaining. “We had to change something because every defensive possession was ending in a foul,” said Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “We went to a couple of different defenses and we were going to give up some open 3-point shots. To their credit, when they got an open 3, they made a couple.” The Tigers won the game at the foul line. LSU made 23 field goals, which were nine fewer than Georgia’s total. However, the Tigers made 37 of their 55 free throw attempts. The Bulldogs went to the foul line just 24 times and made 15. Georgia plays at Baylor on Saturday.

BACK TO THE NFL The Indianapolis Colts announced on Monday that they have hired former Georgia offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as their new quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer only spent one season with the Bulldogs. Schottenheimer’s one season in Athens didn’t go as planned, with the injury to running back Nick Chubb in the Tennessee game. Plus, the offense never found a consistent passing attack. In 2015, the Bulldogs fell to 83rd nation-ally in total offense. they put up 377.2 yards per game. The year prior, Georgia was 30th in the country with 457.8 yards per game.

to 10. The Panthers will try to rebound on Thurs-day at Arkansas State (9-10, 5-3) at 8:30 P.M.

SHE GOT GAME Prior to the Men’s loss, the Women’s team (8-9, 3-5) earned an 80-75 win at Appalachian State (5-11, 2-5). Haley Gerrin posted 20 points and six rebounds to pace the Lady Panthers. Morgan Jackson scored 17 points and Alaysia Mitchell and Madison Newby finished with 13 and 10 points respectively. Mitchell collected eight rounds and Newby, seven assists in the win. “I am proud of the team today, playing hard, playing unselfish, and playing tough,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “They were fighting for each other as a team today. We made our free throws today and that is al-ways an important stat. A conference win on the road is always good and now we have to keep getting better and keep fighting hard.”

NEWBY She may be new to the team but fresh-man Madison Newby has already played well beyond her years. The former Tiger was Region 8-AAAAAA Player of the Year for the 29-4 Region champions of Archer High School. The point guard set Gwinnett County record and school record with 665 career assists (5.36 per game)...Fifth in Gwinnett County history for assists season (223) and sixth in county history for assists in game (14 vs. Jeff Davis, 1/17/14). She is averaging a team-high 5.2 as-sists per game this year for Georgia State.

pionship Game, while Carolina routed Arizona 49-15 in the NFC Championship Game. Georgia Tech is one of three FBS programs with four of more players on Super Bowl 50 rosters, joining Ohio State (6) and Tennessee (4). Tech’s quartette includes active players Demaryius Thomas and Vance Walker and in-actives Lou Young and Stephen Hill.

COACHING CHANGE Tech head football coach Paul Johnson announced earlier this month the addition of veteran coach Ron West to takeover as co-offensive line coach. West played for Clemson and most recently served on North Carolina’s coaching staff. He brings 36 years of experi-ence to the Yellow Jackets. “I’m excited to add Ron to our staff,” said Johnson. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our staff and he’ll be a big part of our program moving forward.” West will work alongside offensive line coach Mike Sewak in an offense that has paced the ACC in rushing the last eight years. “Having grown up and played high school football in Georgia, it’s an honor for me to come back home and coach at a great institution like Georgia Tech,” said West. “I’ve spent much of my career in the ACC and I have great respect for Tech’s program and what Paul Johnson has done there. This program has a proud history, won the Orange Bowl last year, so it’s the per-fect opportunity for me to join a great staff and bring my family back home to Atlanta.”

highest scoring tandem in the conference and put together strong back-to-back performanc-es in five point losses to Stetson and FGCU. The two combined for 56 points against the Hatters and 51 points against the Eagles. It was the third and fourth time this sea-son the duo combined to score 50-plus points and three other times they have both topped 40 points. The two lead the A-Sun averaging 36.9 points per game. Brown is second in the Atlantic Sun averaging 18.5 points per game and Ray is third averaging 18.4.

BRING THEM HOME The Kennesaw State football program has formalized plans for its third annual National Signing Day Presented by Fifth Third Bank that is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb.3. The KSU De-partment of Athletics will have a number of events scheduled throughout the day and will provide up-to-the-minute coverage of all the signees. A special “Signing Day Central” page will be available at www.KSUOwls.com. Beginning at 7 a.m. (ET), KSUOwls.com will provide live updates, along with comprehensive social me-dia coverage via Twitter (@KSUOwlNation and @KennesawStFB). A press conference officially announcing the recruiting class will be held at the coach-es office beginning at 11 a.m. Highlights of the press conference will be posted to www.KSUOwls.com shortly following the conclusion of the press conference. Per NCAA rules, the Kennesaw State Department of Athletics will announce a signee when the program has re-ceived and KSU Compliance has verified the signee’s National Letter of Intent. Signees are not officially Owls until approved and listed on KSUOwls.com.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

GEORGIA STATE

GEORGIA TECH

KENNESAW STATE

BY DAN MATHEWS | DMATHEWS@SCOREATL.COM

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

FURIOUS COMEBACK ATTEMPT FALLS SHORT

PANTHERS SPLIT IN BOONE; NEWBY MAKING IMPACT

JACKETS ANNOUNCE 2016 SCHEDULE

TAYLOR ALLUM NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE

12 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

The Hawks (27-19) suffered to heartbreaking setbacks before finding gold in Denver Mon-

day night. Atlanta finishes its four-game road trip 2-2 with wins to open (Portland 104-98) and close (Denver 119-105) the west coast tour. Last Thursday DeMarcus “Boogie” Cous-ins and the Sacramento Kings gave the Hawks the shakedown, in a 91-88 victory. Cousins finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds, five as-sists, three steals and two blocks. All five Kings starters scored in double figures. Rajon Rondo notched a triple-double with 11 points, 10 re-bounds and 11 assists. Atlanta had an oppor-tunity to tie or take the lead late, but fumbled away its chances and never got a shot off. “I’m proud of the fight to get back in the game. It’s tough when you’re on the road and down by 17 points (in the third quarter),” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We just didn’t have enough time to get back over the hump. They had more energy than us, beat us to the 50-50 balls, and beat us on the boards. They kind of outworked us in different points in

Atlanta Braves’ general manager John Cop-polella sat down with MLB.com earlier this

week to discuss what was—or still is—a busy offseason for the franchise. Making no secret about being in full-fledged rebuilding mode, Coppolella has unloaded several established stars in exchange for younger talent and a re-vamping of the farm system. “Our goals were to improve our major-league club for the 2016 season and continue to add young talent to our farm system, both of which we feel we have accomplished,” the 37-year-old explained. “Specifically, we target-ed upgrading our offensive production and the quality and depth of our bullpen options.” Coppolella added that the most surprising part of the offseason, for him, was that he end-ed up trading Andrelton Simmons and Shelby Miller. “We didn’t want to trade either player,” he stressed, but the Braves got offers that they could not refuse. Simmons got shipped to the Los Angeles Angels, netting up-and-coming pitchers Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis in ad-

The Atlanta Falcons announced Tuesday that they have hired Phil Emery and Ruston

Webster as national scouts. Emery brings 17 years of NFL experience as a scout and general manager to the Falcons. This will be his second stint with in Atlanta, as he served as the director of scouting for the team from 2004-2008. During that time, two of the Falcons three first-round draft picks developed into Pro Bowlers: WR Roddy White (2005) and QB Matt Ryan (2008). He also worked as an Eastern regional scout for the Falcons leading up to the 2009 draft. The Fal-cons made two trips to the playoffs during that time including an appearance in the 2004 NFC Championship game. Emery recently was the Bears general manager from 2012-14, and in his first season with the team he acquired wide receiver Bran-don Marshall via trade during the 2012 offsea-son. Marshall was named to the Pro Bowl in his first two years with the Bears, setting franchise single-season records for receptions and re-

No. 2 Norcross knocked No. 3 Collins Hill from the unbeatens in AAAAAA with

a 55-45 win at home on Tuesday. The Lady Blue Devils have now won eight straight and the two teams swap positions in the top three. No. 4 McEachern rolled Marietta (14-6) by a score of 63-40 in an otherwise uneventful week of action. Glynn Academy takes over the No. 1 rank-ing in AAAAA following No. 5 Brunswick’s 49-43 slip up against Camden County (15-6). The Lady Pirates fall behind No. 2 Sequoyah, No. 3 Southwest DeKalb and No. 4 Flowery Branch, a tough field. Sequoyah drilled River Ridge 50-38 at the War Lodge last Tuesday. Sophomore point guard Alyssa Cagle finished with 18 points before sitting out the fourth quarter. Stephen-son has lost three straight including a 60-53 loss at Mays. The Lady Raiders (14-6) are still in search of their first top ten appearance in weeks even after winning their state title rematch with the Jaguars. No. 10 Gainesville makes the poll

the game.” In the loss, Paul Millsap went for a team-high 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, five steals and four blocks.

BURNT AT THE BUZZER Archie Goodwin launched a three from atop the arc and splashed home a game-win-ner with 0.1 seconds left to stun Atlanta on Saturday, 98-95. Goodwin, who averages 6.8 points per game on the year, exploded for a game-high 24. Phoenix received another out-lier performance from veteran center Tyson Chandler. The big man has averaged just over eight rebounds a night, but came down with a Suns record 27 rebounds vs. Atlanta. “I’m going to continue to hit the glass and try to help my teammates and give them other opportunities,” Chandler said. “As many good looks we are able to get the better.” Kent Bazemore scored 21 points to lead Atlanta. The Hawks received 19 and 16 points off the bench from Dennis Schroder and Mike Scott respectively.

STRIKING GOLD Atlanta ended its road trip on Monday by beating the Nuggets 119-105. Millsap had 22 points and nine rebounds while Al Horford chipped in 18 points. “It was a much more focused effort,” Hor-ford said. “You want to try to end this road trip on a good note, so it was important for us to come out ready from the beginning.”

dition to veteran shortstop Erick Aybar. Miller went to the Arizona Diamondbacks, resulting in a massive haul for Atlanta that featured center fielder Ender Inciarte, pitching prospect Aaron Blair and shortstop Dansby Swanson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft. FREEMAN FEELING GOOD At 26 years old, Freddie Freeman is al-ready the old reliable of these Braves. In fact, he is the last remaining position player who was on the roster in 2013—the last time At-lanta won the NL East title. There had been ru-mors that Freeman would be part of the mass exodus in 2015, but the Braves have him un-der contract for six more seasons on his $135 contract and decided not to let one the bright, young (relatively speaking) stars in the game go elsewhere. The first baseman sounds just fine with that, too, as he has high hopes for his team both in the immediate future and beyond. “We have some young guys that could be making an impact with us this year,” Freeman told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “and in my opinion it’s an exciting time to be a Braves fan because I think we are going to be good soon—and for a lot of years to come. Hopefully it happens soon rather than later. Hopefully these guys take some big steps this year and we can be like the Royals and Astros, with a lot of homegrown guys and get to the point of being able to make the playoffs every year. It’s going to be exciting.”

ceiving yards in his first season with the team. Before joining the Bears, Emery was the director of college scouting for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, a year after the franchise went 2-14. Two years later in 2010, the Chiefs won their first division title since 2003 with a 10-6 record. In Emery’s first draft with the team he helped produce safety Eric Berry, who was the team’s first rookie Pro Bowl selection since 1989, and Pro Bowl returner Dexter McCluster. A year later, in 2011, he helped select Pro Bowl linebacker Justin Houston in the third round.

TEAM OF EXPERIENCE Webster spent the last four seasons as the general manager of the Tennessee Titans and brings 28 years of NFL experience to the Falcons. As the general manager for the Titans, Webster had the opportunity to add a fran-chise quarterback in Marcus Mariota with the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Prior to Webster’s arrival in Tennessee in 2010, he gained 22 years of personnel experi-ence split between the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his four years in Seattle, Webster was the vice president of player personnel and oversaw the day-to-day management of the pro personnel and col-lege scouting departments. Webster spent the other 18 years with Tampa Bay in a variety of roles, including the director of player person-nel (2005), director of college scouting (2001-04), director of pro personnel (1989-91), and regional college scout (1988).

and are currently 10-0 in Region 8. No movement occurred in Class AAAA and AAA. No. 1 Buford has won 11-straight while No. 5 Mt. Zion has kept pace with 13-straight wins. Long winning streaks are in vogue in Class AAA as well with No. 1 Morgan County (14), No. 2 Jackson (17) and No. 3 Ken-drick (15) all riding double digit streaks. No. 5 Laney holds its place in the top five following a 72-51 loss to 1A-Private No. 1 St. Francis.

JUMP AROUND In AA, Putnam County jumps from No. 9 to No. 5 following a 51-38 win at No. 7 Bleck-ley County, who falls two spots. Vidalia tumbles from No. 7 to No. 9 after a 58-57 loss to Swains-boro. The Tigers swept both the boys and girls Vidalia teams, huge wins for the program. Vida-lia attempts to bounce back as they visit No. 6 Jeff Davis on Tuesday. The Lady Indians crushed Jeff Davis 70-52 in their first meeting. Class A-Private saw ELCA (10-5) drop out of the ranking after a 41-32 loss to No. 6 Our Lady of Mercy. Replacing the Chargers is No. 9 Lakeview Academy. In Class A-Public, it is Quitman County plummeting out of the top ten following three straight losses. Replacing them is Woodville-Tompkins at No. 10. No. 5 Commerce beat A-Private’s No. 9 Lakeview 62-50. No. 4 Calhoun County lost to AA No. 4 Pelham, 64-46. No. 2 Taylor drilled No. 8 Greenville 69-45.

ATLANTA HAWKS

ATLANTA BRAVES

ATLANTA FALCONS

GHSA BASKETBALL

BY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

BY RICKY DIMON | RDIMON@SCOREATL.COM

BY CRAIG SAGER II | CSAGER@SCOREATL.COM

WINS OPEN & CLOSE 2-2 ROAD TRIP

COPPOLELLA REFLECTS ON BUSY START TO OFFSEASON

FALCONS ADD MORE EXECUTIVE STRENGTH

LADY BLUE DEVILS GAIN GROUND IN AAAAAABY KYLE SANDY | KSANDY@SCOREATL.COM

13Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016

14 SCORE ATLANTA | www.ScoreAtl.com

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15Vol. 12 Iss. 3 | Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2016