Class AAA

Did You Know: Morgan County freshman Alec Woodard set a school-record with 10 threes in a game this season.

R8 #1 Morgan County (25-4)

They meet again. Macon has become a March mainstay for the No. 1 ranked Bulldogs as they take their third straight trip to the Centreplex. In 2013-14 Charlemagne Gibbons oversaw Tookie Brown’s destruction of Buford for the program’s first and only title. In his first year as head coach Jamond Sims took the Bulldogs back to the title game last year but they fell to Jenkins on a last second layup from senior Eric Johnson 62-60. With 3,000-point scorer Tookie Brown now leading Georgia Southern in scoring as a freshman, Morgan County got its season off to an inauspicious start losing to Cherokee 57-52 at Rockdale County’s Battle at the Rock tournament. Things quickly got better as they defeated Class AAAA’s No. 4 Lithonia 44-41, but they ran into familiar foe No. 3 Laney, losing 65-64. The Bulldogs took out the Wildcats in their second meeting 65-63 but would have to escape them one more time if they wanted to march back to Macon. After blowing out Pepperell in round one 71-30 and knocking off North Clayton 67-54 in the Sweet 16, the Bulldogs ran into Laney for the third time this year and sixth time in two seasons, last year ending the Wildcats’ season with a 68-62 comeback win in the Final Four. Morgan County won the rubber match in the Elite Eight this year, beating Laney 55-50 while holding Charleston Southern signee Christian Keeling to five points after he entered averaging a team-high 24. Florida Atlantic signees Jailyn Ingram and DeVorious Brown were the difference makers as Ingram poured in 24 points and Brown netted 12. After the emotional victory the Bulldogs entered their Final Four meeting with No. 6 South Atlanta hungover, falling behind by as many as 16 points and taking a 40-25 deficit into the half. Freshman Alec Woodard and senior Jordan Ford helped key the comeback. Woodard sank all 10 of his free throw attempts in the fourth quarter en route to 18 points while Ford scored a team-high 22. Brown hit the game-winning three with one second left right after Frank Bailey of the Hornets tied the game with a three with 7 seconds left, stinging South Atlanta for a stunning 64-61 win.

R1 #1 Jenkins (28-4)

The defending state champions had a questionable start to their season, needing overtime to beat Creekview 74-67 at the Dai’Jon Parker Classic. No. 5 Jenkins has righted the ship since their sluggish start and are back to playing a fast brand of basketball centered around one of the state’s best juniors and a guard who transferred in from nearby Savannah High School. 6-foot-5 junior forward Trevion Lamar does it all for Coach Bakari Bryant. He averages 16.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. The versatile big man can score both inside and out causing matchup problems for defenders. Zion Williams brings over stability at the point guard position and is the team’s second leading scorer as a junior. Williams and Lamar have replaced the output left by Eric Johnson and Malik Benlevi (GSU). Johnson hit a layup with 3.6 seconds left to capture the Warriors’ first-ever state title. On their march to Macon the Warriors have ended some of the state’s best Cinderella stories. They eliminated Jackson-Atlanta in round one 79-69. The Jaguars snuck into the tournament after stunning 22-3 Westminster in the region tournament. In the Sweet 16 it was Jackson County falling to Jenkins 70-51. The Panthers going from 4-22 to 18-12 while winning their first state playoff game in 51 years before running into the Jenkins buzzsaw. Next it was No. 2 Calhoun seeing their 27-0 season come to an end without a state title, falling 84-78 in the Elite Eight. The Yellow Jackets used a 17-4 run to come back from the dead and take a 73-72 lead with 4:28 left, but Lamar was too much, scoring six straight for the Warriors and finishing with 19 to hold off Calhoun. Williams added a game-high 21 with three three-pointers in a row coming in the third quarter to extend their lead. The Warriors jumped out to a 35-20 halftime lead over No. 8 Cedar Grove in the Final Four. The Saints battled back to cut the gap to 62-59 with 3:20 to play, but Jenkins answered back with a 6-0 run of its own to close the game taking a 68-59 decision. Lamar scored a game-high 21 along with senior Dimetri Chambers.