3A semifinal preview

From Score Atlanta reporter Josh Bagriansky:

It’s been a wild ride in AAA.

The top two ranked teams were eliminated in the first two rounds of the boys tournament, leaving Scott Bracco’s Dunwoody team looking primed for a third state championship in four years. They are not just the favorites in AAA, but also one of the best teams in all classifications. Big time recruits Chris Singleton (FSU) and Delwan Graham (LSU) can both jump out of the gym. And the backcourt of Pierre Jordan (also a future-Seminole) and Issiah Grayson is not too shabby either. To be honest, it’s hard to imagine anyone stopping DHS, especially a young team like Carver-Columbus, who face off with the ‘Cats in the semis.

Seeing Hart County get this far was a shock for a lot of us, but they proved they belong in two surprising victories against Blessed Trinity and East Hall. They’re an athletically-gifted team that features a great post scorer in Quint Clinkscales. They beat two very tough opponents in the first two rounds in Blessed Trinity and East Hall, so I wouldn’t count on them being intimidated.

HC will have their hands full against Glenn Hills. Keep an eye on Jerel Stephenson and Chris Reynolds. They are two great talents that have flown under the radar all season. If anyone can beat Dunwoody, I think it’s these guys.

The girls side also features a clear favorite. Kendrick has simply dominated their competition all year long. They haven’t lost this season, and they haven’t really come close to defeat. Janae McKinney is a great scorer and Mukia Merrick is one of the top distributors in AAA. The only question for the Lady Cherokees is whether they can keep their composure if someone keeps it close.

Monroe Area has the tough task of facing KHS, but they have their own dynamic duo in Maya Brown and Brittany Kirkland.

The Glenn Hills-Carrolton game will be fun. I can’t wait to see Ciara Lyons, who is one of the best scorers in the state, regardless of gender or classification. Carrolton has a real talent of its own in Velicia Bell. Watching those two match up will be a lot of fun.

Bagriansky can be reached at JoshB914@gmail.com.

BT falls to Hart County

It was a wild ride for the Blessed Trinity boys in the last few weeks, beating nationally ranked South Atlanta in the region tournament, then losing to Hart County in the second round in what I consider a pretty significant upset; I even regarded BT as a darkhorse title contender. The Titans got past Chestatee in the first round, but fell 73-68 to Hart County yesterday. I had a chance to talk to their coach Brian Marks.

On the BT season: "Real proud of the season we had, winning over 5A powerhouse Marietta, beating Dunwoody on their court, beating South Atlanta in the region semifinals, these are just amazing things for our program, finishing 27-4."

On his second-round opponent: "We knew Hart was very athletic, and that they would rebound the ball very well. They're not a great perimeter shooting team, but they came out and hit five threes early in the game ... They're just a real athletic team, they play good, hard defense, they disrupt you ... their main thing is attacking the boards. They got a lot of second-chance points, and we were one-and-done most trips. It's a tough place to play up there, too."

Hard loss to take for the program, indeed. But we'll see if Marks can't use this season to help build his program into a perennial contender.

On the other hand, Hart County, a team I admittedly knew little about before yesterday, must have turned some heads with this performance.