Championship/semifinal Friday offers some ferocious matchups, and will set up major meetings

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com
 

            By evening tipoffs, it’ll be pretty cool outside.

            And it’ll be almost steamy inside in Forysth and Fort Valley and certainly Milledgeville, and mighty warm in Sandersville and Montezuma.

            Region tournament championships will be decided at the first three and determined at the second two, with Milledgeville also host to a big semifinals night as well, and the parties involved make things interesting and intense.

            All due respect all parties involved, more eyes around the state will be keeping tabs on the Region 2-4A boys final with tournament host Mary Persons and undefeated defending state champ Upson-Lee.

            The Knights, winners of all 25 games this year and 57 in a row, have hammered the Bulldogs this season, 76-46 in Forsyth in December and 89-58 in Thomaston on Jan. 19.

            Mary Persons has elevated the program, but those two margins of defeat are nicks on this season’s resume. The first loss came without Cam Holden, serving a team suspension. But he played in the second game only for the Knights to be in a steamrolling mode and putting out the Bulldogs’ fire early on.

            The Mary Persons gym will have plenty of purple before the 8:30 p.m. boys’ tip,  since the Upson-Lee girls are in the championship game, playing Spalding, which isn’t far away from Forsyth and is No. 3 in the state’s two major polls, ScoreAtlanta and Sandy’s Spiel.

            Expect the doors to be locked and fans turned away pretty early.

            The boys finale in Region 3-4A at Peach County is an all-Macon matchup with Westside – trying to prove it’s more than Khavon Moore, out with a season-ending injury – and Central.

            They’re basically next to each other in the state polls, and split the regular-season series. Westside won 75-62 at home, and Central took a 61-56 win at home 11 days later. The Seminoles score a little more, but Central has a little more balance.

            The girls finale has Central looking for its 15th straight win, and Peach County eyeing its ninth in a row. There’ll be plenty of quality players on the court for both sides, so it’s likely to be more like the first meeting, a 6-point game back in early December, than the second, a 20-point Central win.

            Region 3-4A is simple. It’s Burke County against host Baldwin, in both championship games.

            Both girls teams are in both top 10s, while Baldwin is at No. 5 and 4. Burke County’s boys, though, have won five straight, and one of those was by 60-57 on the Braves’ home court on Jan. 26.

            Washington County hosts the Region 3-AA semifinals tonight and finals on Saturday, and that’s a quite cozy region on a slow day.

            Dodge County and Washington County are ranked girls teams looking to avoid upsets, but the Golden Hawks have dangerous Bleckley County, which made a nice run in last year’s state tournament.

            Dublin’s boys are No. 2, and face Dodge County, No. 10 in one poll. Washington County and Northeast are pretty even. And if it’s the Golden Hawks and Irish in the finale Saturday night, get there early. Washington County won 49-47 over Dublin in last year’s finale on the same floor.

            Macon County welcomes teams for the final two rounds in 4-A, and the Bulldogs’ boys and girls are in the semifinals, along with some teams that won’t have too far to travel. The girls final four has the top seed in the East and West and the third seed on each side, with Macon County facing Dooly County in a girls semi.

            The boys bracket has the top two seeds from each side battling.

            Adding to things is Dooly County’s boys and girls both in the semis, and playing back-to-back games Friday, both against top seeds from the other side. The boys are eyeing an upset of top-10 Central-Talbotton.

            GMC’s boys and girls are having huge seasons, and the Bulldogs host the semifinals and finals in 7-A, with only two of the final eight teams having much of a drive for the semis.

            One boys semifinal is a monster, with GMC (West 2 seed) and Stratford (East 1 seed). Both are top-10 teams in their respective public/private groupings in a pair of state polls, and the Bulldogs have only two losses.

            Of course, Aquinas is top 5 in both private polls, as is Wilkinson County in the public rankings, and they’re in the other semifinal.

            On the girls side, Stratford and GMC are consensus top-10 teams looking to avoid upsets and set up a burly championship between teams combining for all of three losses.