Week 12 GHSA Boys Basketball State Rankings

Week 12 GHSA Boys Basketball State Rankings


PRO Movement

Class AAAAAAA

1. Pebblebrook (18-2)
2. Newton (17-4)
3. Milton (16-7)
4. Berkmar (15-4)
5. North Gwinnett (19-3)
6. McEachern (14-7)
7. Grayson (13-7)
8. Norcross (16-5)
9. Archer (14-7)
10. Etowah (15-9)

Class AAAAAA

1. Wheeler (17-4)
2. Shiloh (19-0)
3. Westlake (16-4)
4. Alexander (17-2)
5. Osborne (18-2)
6. Buford (17-5)
7. River Ridge (19-3)
8. Tucker (15-4)
9. Kell (12-8)
10. Statesboro (19-3)

Class AAAAA

1. Eagle’s Landing (20-3)
2. St. Pius X (18-3)
3. Jonesboro (13-6)
4. Tri-Cities (13-5)
5. Chapel Hill (17-4)
6. Walnut Grove (17-4)
7. Calhoun (14-5)
8. Southwest DeKalb (17-5)
9. Lithia Springs (15-3)
10. Woodland-Stockbridge (18-4)

Class AAAA

1. McDonough (21-1)
2. Monroe (19-2)
3. Westover (18-2)
4. Spencer (18-2)
5. Jefferson (20-2)
6. Baldwin (15-3)
7. Druid Hills (19-3)
8. Fayette County (15-8)
9. Bainbridge (17-5)
10. North Oconee (15-7)

Class AAA

1. Sandy Creek (18-3)
2. Windsor Forest (13-5)
3. Salem (16-4)
4. Thomson (13-1)
5. Sumter County (20-2)
6. Cross Creek (15-5)
7. LaFayette (19-0)
8. GAC (14-5)
9. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (18-1)
10. Hart County (14-7)

Class AA

1. Columbia (20-3)
2. Pace Academy (19-4)
3. Butler (13-5)
4. Westside-Augusta (16-2)
5. Vidalia (21-1)
6. Thomasville (17-4)
7. Washington County (15-3)
8. Rabun County (16-5)
9. Chattooga (14-5)
10. Putnam County (14-6)

Class A-Private

1. Greenforest (18-4)
2. Galloway (12-7)
3. North Cobb Christian (13-5)
4. Christian Heritage (16-4)
5. Mt. Pisgah (16-3)
6. King’s Ridge (17-3)
7. Providence Christian (13-6)
8. Darlington (15-6)
9. First Presbyterian Day (14-3)
10. Walker (15-6)

Class A-Public

1. Drew Charter (21-1)
2. Social Circle (21-0)
3. Dublin (19-1)
4. Calhoun County (16-0)
5. Manchester (21-2)
6. Lanier County (18-2)
7. Warren County (12-3)
8. Portal (12-5)
9. Turner County (18-2)
10. Mitchell County (15-5)

Two weeks remain before region tournaments tip-off, meaning the importance of seeding is at an all-time high. With playoff position on the line, tempers have flared as multiple bench clearing altercations have given the game a temporary black eye. Aside from the mayhem, two new number ones have emerged, peaking at the right time.No. 1 Pebblebrook has officially taken over the top spot in Class 7A, starting their steady climb from the number 5 spot in the preseason. The Falcons blasted East Coweta (15-7) 85-61 to knock the Indians out of the poll. No. 2 Newton falls a spot after earning wins over South Gwinnett (71-54) and No. 7 Grayson (58-56) but losing to Class 6A No. 1 Wheeler 74-69 in overtime at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic. The Rams ran out of gas without Indiana-commit Jakai Newton available, receiving 30 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals from UConn-commit Stephon Castle and 19 points and 8 rebounds from Marcus Whitlock in defeat. No. 3 Milton netted a 65-55 win over St. Mary’s, AZ at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic as Stanford-commit Kanaan Carlyle posted 22 points while LT Overton scored 15. No. 5 North Gwinnett picked up a gutsy win at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic, beating North Mecklenburg, NC 54-50 without Duke Clayton or Amaru Grosvenor. Dylan Gary was the X-Factor, scoring all 16 of his points in the second half to lead the way. No. 6 McEachern pounded East Coweta 89-73 and squeaked by Newnan 67-65 before pulling away from Collins Hill 68-51 at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic, Ace Bailey finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds. No. 4 Berkmar rode Ole Miss-signee Malique Ewin to a 3-0 week highlighted by wins at No. 8 Norcross 54-52 and at last week’s Class 6A No. 9 Habersham Central 71-63 in overtime. Ewin posted 19 points and 8 rebounds vs. the Blue Devils before hanging 27 points and 15 rebounds on the Raiders. Replacing East Coweta is red-hot No. 10 Etowah, winners of six-straight. The Eagles mark the fifth 7A Top 10 team that was in action at Milton’s Longhorn 5-Star Classic, securing a 67-58 win against last week’s Class 6A No. 4 Buford. Brandon Rechsteiner took over with 28 points as the Eagles sank nine threes.

Class 6A sees some shake up, but the one constant remains No. 1 Wheeler. Even without 6-foot-7 sophomore Klairus Amir who is rumored to have transferred midseason, already about to head to his third school, the Wildcats mustered enough strength to top last week’s Class 7A No. 1 Newton 74-69 in overtime at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic. Isaiah Collier tallied 26 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while Radford-signee Kyle Burns collected 16 points and 7 rebounds. No. 5 Osborne slips two spots after losing 62-59 at home in overtime to No. 4 Alexander, the Cougars springing up six places with the win. Jah’Kim Payne scored 14 points while Braedan Lue double-doubled with 13 points and 11 rebounds. No. 3 Westlake has quietly reeled off 10-straight wins, scoring a 72-59 victory at Langston Hughes and beating Morrow 66-40 this past week. No. 6 Buford falls two slots after losing 67-58 to Class 7A No. 10 Etowah at the Longhorn 5-Star Classic, but the Wolves did beat Habersham Central (12-9) 64-61 earlier in the week on a buzzer-beating three to help force the hard-luck losers out of the poll. Habersham Central is riding a three-game losing streak, kickstarted by a 63-55 loss at Lanier and bookended by a grueling 71-63 overtime defeat to Class 7A No. 4 Berkmar. Resurfacing in the poll since dropping out in Week 9 is No. 10 Statesboro. The Blue Devils rolled in wins over South Effingham (77-36), Richmond Hill (57-49) and Swainsboro (72-42).

No. 2 St. Pius X is in the driver’s seat in Region 5-5A after winning at No. 8 Southwest DeKalb 48-35, holding the Panthers scoreless for the first 7:23 of the fourth quarter during a 14-0 run to seal the game. Eamonn Kenah scored 15 in the win. No. 3 Jonesboro is fortunate to only sink one spot after laying an egg against Woodward Academy 68-48 and losing to No. 4 Tri-Cities 79-60, the Bulldogs climbing two places. Jonesboro was without starting forwards Kaymen Brown (17.1 ppg, 5 rpg) and 6-foot-7 Yannis Woods (10.1 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.5 bpg) in the loss to Tri-Cities. Region 6 was ugly on Tuesday. No. 9 Lithia Springs lost 50-36 in a shortened game at Villa Rica after a fight between the student sections spilled onto the floor and the Wildcats refused to finish the game without fans. No. 5 Chapel Hill lost 67-60 at Maynard Jackson and got into a benches clearing brawl with the Jaguars, but had no suspensions handed down as they returned to action on Friday and won at full strength at Lithia Springs 61-52, Peyton Weathersby scoring 19 points. Interesting to say the least. Outside of Region 6, No. 10 Woodland-Stockbridge lost 43-40 at rival Stockbridge to slip three spots. Lithonia (15-7) is out of the Top 10, the latest Region 5 team to run into the suddenly dangerous Decatur buzzsaw, 40-38. Now healthy and with their key pieces intact, No. 7 Calhoun is back in the rankings for the first time since Week 5, with an impressive 3-0 week highlighted by a 73-64 win at last week’s Class A-Private No. 7 Darlington. 6-foot-9 Dylan Faulkner scored 24 points while Freed-Hardeman-commit 6-foot-6 wing Peyton Law netted 18.

Class 4A remains competitive from top to bottom. No. 4 Spencer’s strength of schedule is coming back to hurt them in the polls, slipping a spot after a 63-50 win at Hardaway while No. 3 Westover rises after a 68-62 win over Dougherty and outlasting returnee No. 9 Bainbridge 63-57 in overtime. Sitting at 17-5 overall and 4-4 in brutal Region 1, the Bearcats have three wins vs. Top 10 teams and their five losses have come against four opponents with a combined record of 64-15, nine of those losses belonging to Dougherty. No. 7 Druid Hills failed to seize complete control over Region 6, getting upset 46-44 at Hapeville Charter before bouncing back with a 58-47 win over Marist (14-7) who exits the rankings after also losing at Mays 69-50. Madison County (18-4) couldn’t cut it, failing to survive a week in the poll with a 60-58 loss to Cedar Shoals. They are replaced by No. 10 North Oconee, the fourth team to be ranked out of Region 8 and who last appeared in Week 5.  The Titans won 50-48 at Cedar Shoals and beat a reeling Flowery Branch 70-51 behind Brodie Scott’s 27 points and 19 rebounds as North Oconee picked up their seventh win in eight games.

No. 1 Sandy Creek is back on top in Class 3A following No. 2 Windsor Forest’s 52-48 overtime loss at Liberty County without Georgetown-signee D’ante Bass. The Patriots won 66-64 at No. 8 GAC. The Spartans also lost 48-42 to No. 3 Salem before finishing the week with a 66-54 win against Cumberland Christian. No. 4 Thomson climbs three spots with a 63-53 win over No. 6 Cross Creek, riding in-season Laney transfer Marcellus Brigham to a team-high 17 points. Groves (9-4) falls out after an 83-74 triple-overtime loss to Johnson-Savannah. No. 10 Hart County sneaks back in for the first time since dropping out in Week 2. The Bulldogs have ripped off seven-straight wins, most recently against Oconee County (66-53), Franklin County (61-48) and Monroe Area (65-58) as Chipola-commit JC Curry averaged 27.3 points per game.

No. 3 Butler has cemented themselves as Region 4-2A’s team to beat, completing a sweep of No. 4 Westside-Augusta 74-52 to leapfrog into the Top 3. No. 7 Washington County tumbles four spots with a disappointing 52-49 loss to Laney, who was beat by Butler 72-47, Westside-Augusta 62-46 and returnee No. 10 Putnam County 66-55 this past week. The War Eagles are back on track with the return of Eren Banks who dropped in 20 points at Laney after missing over a month. No. 8 Rabun County defeated Union County 76-61 as Player of the Year candidate Lander-signee Connor McKay exploded for 47 points, 16 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals and 4 blocks. Model (14-5) couldn’t make it past the week, bounced from the poll with a 58-56 loss to Coosa.

Region 7 reshapes Class A-Private for another week as No. 3 North Cobb Christian jumps three spots with an 85-74 win at No. 4 Christian Heritage and an 83-68 victory over No. 10 Walker. Christian Heritage is down two spots, buoyed by a 59-53 win at No. 8 Darlington, who also lost 73-64 to Class 5A No. 7 Calhoun. Outside of Region 7, No. 1 Greenforest beat Southwest Atlanta Christian 74-64 and No. 2 Galloway edged Mt. Vernon Presbyterian 63-48 to rise a spot.

The top six in Class A-Public doesn’t change. No. 1 Drew Charter pounded Bowdon 98-61, No. 2 Social Circle held off Towns County 58-49 and No. 3 Dublin put away Wheeler County 47-34. No. 4 Calhoun County is still perfect after surviving at Chattahoochee County 59-55. No. 10 Mitchell County loses three spots with a 68-59 loss at Pelham. No. 8 Portal had to close on a 15-0 run to stun Jenkins County on the road, 48-45.