Week 9 GHSA Boys Basketball State Rankings
Rankings

Week 9 GHSA Boys Basketball State Rankings


PRO Movement

Class AAAAAAA

1. Newton (13-1)
2. Pebblebrook (12-2)
3. Berkmar (8-3)
4. Milton (9-5)
5. McEachern (8-4)
6. North Gwinnett (13-3)
7. Grayson (11-4)
8. Norcross (12-4)
9. Archer (11-6)
10. South Gwinnett (14-2)

Class AAAAAA

1. Wheeler (9-3)
2. Buford (12-2)
3. Shiloh (12-0)
4. Osborne (11-0)
5. Alexander (10-1)
6. Westlake (9-4)
7. Centennial (13-1)
8. Tucker (9-3)
9. Kell (7-6)
10. Habersham Central (9-5)

Class AAAAA

1. Eagle’s Landing (13-3)
2. St. Pius X (13-2)
3. Tri-Cities (9-2)
4. Jonesboro (8-4)
5. Chapel Hill (11-2)
6. Southwest DeKalb (10-3)
7. Walnut Grove (12-3)
8. Woodland-Stockbridge (14-2)
9. Lithia Springs (10-1)
10. Lithonia (11-5)

Class AAAA

1. McDonough (14-1)
2. Westover (13-0)
3. Baldwin (10-2)
4. Jefferson (15-1)
5. Spencer (10-2)
6. Monroe (12-2)
7. Bainbridge (14-2)
8. Fayette County (9-7)
9. Mays (9-4)
10. Miller Grove (10-5)

Class AAA

1. Sandy Creek (11-2)
2. Windsor Forest (10-4)
3. Sumter County (15-1)
4. Salem (10-3)
5. Cross Creek (10-4)
6. LaFayette (13-0)
7. Thomson (7-1)
8. GAC (7-3)
9. Groves (7-2)
10. Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe (14-0)

Class AA

1. Columbia (13-3)
2. Pace Academy (10-4)
3. Westside-Augusta (11-1)
4. Washington County (9-2)
5. Butler (7-5)
6. Thomasville (11-2)
7. Vidalia (15-1)
8. Putnam County (11-3)
9. Rabun County (12-4)
10. Chattooga (9-5)

Class A-Private

1. Greenforest (10-4)
2. Galloway (10-4)
3. King’s Ridge (13-2)
4. Darlington (11-2)
5. Christian Heritage (10-3)
6. Mt. Pisgah (10-3)
7. North Cobb Christian (7-5)
8. Heritage School (11-3)
9. Walker (10-3)
10. Providence Christian (8-6)

Class A-Public

1. Drew Charter (10-1)
2. Social Circle (14-0)
3. Dublin (13-1)
4. Manchester (14-1)
5. Calhoun County (10-0)
6. Portal (7-3)
7. Lanier County (13-1)
8. Warren County (6-2)
9. Turner County (12-1)
10. Towns County (9-4)

Region play is starting to weed out the pretenders from the contenders while midseason transfers are shifting the balance of power.There’s slight movement at the bottom of the poll in Class 7A. At the top, No. 1 Newton continues to dominate at a national level. The Rams went 4-0 winning the Sugar Bowl Classic Championship by beating Beaumont United, TX 67-54 in the title game. No. 6 North Gwinnett pounded West Forsyth 73-49 and Mountain View 84-66 before stealing an improbable 59-56 overtime victory over Class 5A No. 1 Eagle’s Landing at the Grayson New Year Classic. Down three, recent Lincoln Memorial-commit Thomas Allard was fouled on a halfcourt heave with 0.8 seconds left and subsequently sank all three free throws to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, Clemson-signee RJ Godfrey came to life and carried the Bulldogs to the finish line scoring seven of his team-high 18 points to seal the win while collecting 15 rebounds and 4 blocks. No. 7 Grayson pummeled Parkview 85-58 and held off last week’s Class 3A No. 1 Windsor Forest at the New Year Classic 75-67 as Gicarri Harris scored 20 points and North Carolina A&T-signee Tyrese Elliott netted 19. No. 10 South Gwinnett slips a spot following a 56-43 loss to Class 2A No. 2 Pace Academy at the Grayson New Year Classic. East Coweta (10-3) falls out with a 70-68 loss to Lanier. No. 9 Archer resurfaces following a 3-0 week highlighted by wins over Duluth (66-56) and Brookwood (77-55).

Region 8-6A just got a lot more interesting. No. 2 Buford barely survived newly ranked No. 10 Habersham Central 72-70 in a wild game at the Buford City Arena that witnessed the debuts of Riviera Prep, FL transfers juniors 6-foot-6 Osmar Garcia and 5-foot-11 Landon Suarez. Garcia, the No. 163 ranked player nationally according to PrepHoops, is a state-altering presence. The big body point-forward is highly skilled, helping break the press as a lead ball handler and scoring at will on the low block. He had 15 points and 8 rebounds in the loss to the Wolves. Brand new Reinhardt-commit Mekhi Mawdesley scored 18. On a frantic loose ball scramble to end the game Malachi Dooley retained possession and launched a three at the buzzer and looked to have been accidently shoved in the back, but no whistle came as the refs were chased off the court. Buford was led by Alahn Sumler’s 19 points and Jaylon Taylor’s 17. Prior to the loss, the Raiders beat Lanier 74-68 without their two new pieces. With the additions, Habersham Central is more than talented enough to capture a top four seed in the region and win a few games in the state playoffs. Outside of the vaunted Region 8, No. 4 Osborne overwhelmed Class A-Private No. 9 Providence Christian 77-59 at the Grayson New Year Classic as Cristian Carroll recorded 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks. No. 5 Alexander leaps three spots with an 83-57 win against Carrollton. No. 8 Tucker went on the road and topped Langston Hughes 55-54. It only took one loss to send Statesboro (13-1) freefalling from the Top 10, a bad 49-47 defeat at home to Benedictine.

Class 5A No. 1 Eagle’s Landing snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, fouling Thomas Allard on a halfcourt Hail Mary with 0.8 seconds left to allow Class 7A No. 6 North Gwinnett to tie the game and eventually win in overtime 59-56 at the Grayson New Year Classic. David Thomas (19) and AJ Barnes (17) combined for 36 points in the loss. No. 2 St. Pius X took down last week’s Class 4A No. 10 Marist 57-45 while No. 3 Tri-Cities received 17 points from Noricco Danner in a 78-65 win against Creekside. No. 6 Southwest DeKalb slips a place after losing 63-51 at Class 2A No. 1 Columbia.

No. 2 Westover remained perfect in Class 4A, escaping Dougherty with a 44-43 win. No. 4 Jefferson pushed past Chestatee 67-55 behind JT Fulkrod’s 29 points before Dalen Gales led the way with 15 points in a crucial 71-63 win over East Hall to provide cushion atop the Region 8 standings. No. 5 Spencer beat Hardaway 55-48. No. 6 Monroe dumped No. 7 Bainbridge 54-39 for an important early Region 1 victory. No. 8 Fayette County was romped by Class 3A No. 1 Sandy Creek 66-43 but doesn’t lose ground in the rankings due to strength of schedule. Marist (9-4) falls out with a tough 57-45 loss at Class 5A No. 2 St. Pius X. No. 10 Miller Grove breaks into the Top 10 for the first time this season. The Wolverines have been sneaky good. They won 58-51 at Stephenson this past week but their top wins have come against 14-2 Druid Hills (41-37), Marist (37-33) and Preseason Class 6A Top 10 team 11-5 Evans (49-43). Miller Grove has no bad losses. They have three close road losses to current ranked teams: Class 2A No. 1 Columbia (64-58), No. 9 Mays (57-54) and Class 3A No. 4 Salem (47-45).

No. 1 Sandy Creek is back atop Class 3A after avoiding a trap game pitfall against one-win Cedar Grove 61-58 and rebounding with a 66-43 drubbing of Class 4A No. 8 Fayette County, Vic Newsom pouring in 24 points. No. 2 Windsor Forest dug themselves a double-digit hole in the second half at Class 7A No. 7 Grayson and nearly crawled out before running out of gas, losing 75-67 at the New Year Classic. After battling early foul trouble, Georgetown-signee D’ante Bass recorded 19 points and 12 rebounds. No. 4 Salem beat No. 7 GAC 50-45.

Class 2A No. 1 Columbia defeated last week’s Class 5A No. 5 Southwest DeKalb 63-51. No. 2 Pace Academy raced past Lovett 67-47 and beat last week’s Class 7A No. 9 South Gwinnett 56-43 at the Grayson New Year Classic, Cincinnati-signee Josh Reed pouring in 20 points and 11 rebounds. Banged up No. 4 Washington County had close calls on the road with Jasper County (42-35) and Dodge County (51-47). No. 7 Vidalia edged Woodville-Tompkins 66-55. No. 8 Putnam County slips a spot after losing 60-55 in overtime at Jefferson County. All-State guard Eren Banks has missed half the season with a bone bruise in his knee and hasn’t played since December 17. Keyni Crawford (14.9 ppg) and Malik Thornton (11.9 ppg) have stepped up in his absence. No. 10 Chattooga lost to a full-strength Calhoun on the road 49-45 before producing another classic with Region 7 rival Model, slipping by the Blue Devils 65-63.

No. 7 North Cobb Christian is sliding down the Class A-Private Top 10, losing 66-63 at No. 9 Walker who is back in the rankings for the first time since the Preseason poll. Ricky McKenzie posted 24 points and 7 rebounds while fellow sophomore CJ Brown exploded with 21 points and 18 rebounds. No. 4 Darlington lost 54-44 in overtime at 17-1 McCallie, TN but closed the week with a 46-26 win over Mt. Paran. Now with four of its six teams ranked, Region 7 will start to sort itself out as the Tigers go on the road this Tuesday to play No. 5 Christian Heritage. No. 6 Mt. Pisgah beat St. Francis 54-51. No. 8 Heritage School topped Holy Innocents’ 63-45 while No. 10 Providence Christian falls a spot after a 77-59 loss to Class 6A No. 4 Osborne at the Grayson New Year Classic. WD Mohammed (6-3) is out of the poll after losing 61-59 to Landmark Christian, Bilal Abdur-Rahman piling in 30 points, 7 assists and 5 steals as COVID zapped the Caliphs of two starters.

In Class A-Public, No. 3 Dublin won at Dooly County 60-47. No. 4 Manchester had a 4-0 week highlighted by wins over Taylor County (63-49) and Harris County (86-60). No. 5 Calhoun County remained perfect with a 66-56 win at Mitchell County. No. 7 Lanier County tumbles three spots after losing 68-51 to Hamilton County, FL on December 28, a late score report to MaxPreps. No. 8 Warren County returned to action beating Twiggs County 73-39, Lorenzo Johnson scoring 20 points. Chattahoochee County (7-2) slips out following a 66-62 loss to Macon County. Defending state champs No. 10 Towns County are in the rankings for the first time, riding a five-game winning streak which includes a win over Class 2A No. 9 Rabun County 63-61 in the Battle of the States Championship and most recently a 63-59 victory at 10-3 Washington-Wilkes.