The small sample of high school basketball played in November has seemed to pick up where last season left off when it comes to the excitement about the area’s teams and their prospects for another year filled with championship success. Of course, the number of state championship teams, as well as those who came up just short of that highly sought after achievement, has been unprecedented during the past two seasons as four boys teams (Grovetown, Cross Creek, Westside and Augusta Christian) brought home titles last year alone. Cross Creek’s championship was actually the second in a row for the Razorbacks, who have made it to the finals three consecutive seasons. Also, Butler made it all the way to the championship game, only to finally fall to cross town rival Westside in the class 2A championship game. Thomson reached the semifinals, and seven more teams reached the round of eight in their respective classification.
Somebody has to lose
One might think that these teams would have piled up wins in November, burnishing their already impressive resume during non-region play by scheduling “cupcakes,” as the old saying goes, before region play begins and postseason seeding is at stake. Instead, the first eighteen days of the season has seen an astonishing number of games between returning state champions, or returning champions against returning runners up, or returning finalists against semifinalists or quarterfinalists. Of course when these heavyweights clash, somebody has to lose. In fact, five of the teams that made it as far as the quarterfinals last winter find themselves sporting a losing record at this very early stage of the new season. And only three have won more than they’ve lost. But everybody who has been paying attention can agree that when the best teams play the best competition, we all win, even the team that has fewer points at the end of a given game in November.
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No. 1: Grovetown established its reputation In Augusta, met its match in Atlanta
The defending class 6A state champion Grovetown Warriors got right to it on the first day of the new season by topping the returning class 2A champ Westside 79-73 in front of a full gym in the finale of the highly anticipated Ricky Moore Invitational at Westside. And the Warriors followed that impressive debut with a dominant showing against back-to-back class 3A state champ Cross Creek four days later at Grovetown. The Warriors appeared unstoppable. Georgia State commit Malik Ferguson, a 6’4″ senior point guard, averaged 22 points, making 6 of 9 three point attempts and 9 of 10 free throws in the team’s first three games.
Derrion Reid, a 6’8″ junior guard ESPN has dubbed a top 60 player in the class of 2024, scored 18 points per game during the same stretch. And his 20-point, 7-rebound, 5-assist outing against McEachern in the Hawks-Naismith Tip Off Classic at Holy Innocents Episcopal School made it obvious why so many major colleges have offered him a scholarship.
Grovetown has size like a college team as 6’8″ senior FrankQuon Sherman, the returning class 6A player of the year who recently decommitted from Winthrop, Markell Freeman, a 6’4″ guard who has committed to Chipola College, and DJ Douglas, a 6’9″ defensive specialist of a center with three point range, join Reid and Ferguson in the team’s starting five.
But the Warriors also entered the season with a target on their back after upsetting the order of Peach State basketball last season with a quarterfinal win over Wheeler, currently ranked No. 9 in the nation by ESPN, and a championship game win over Buford. So after Grovetown toppled Westside and Cross Creek and left for Atlanta for a four game stand against those two powerhouses, as well class 7A juggernauts Newton and McEachern, the Warriors were probably humbled when they returned with a 2-4 record entering December.
“I’m not worried about the losses,” fourth year head coach Darren Douglas texted recently. “We are right there.”
Douglas, one of only four coaches in Georgia history who has won a state championship leading both a public and a private school (Aquinas in 2018), has the benefit of coaching three of his four senior starters for all four seasons at Grovetown. Sherman, once a transfer from Lincoln County, is in his second season under Douglas, and Reid has started for the Warriors since his freshman season. Douglas’s squad will continue to benefit from playing the best competition in the southeast because No. 25 ranked Columbus (FL) and Hamilton Heights (TN), among other heavy hitters, remain ahead before region play begins in January.
No. 2: Westside stumbled only to come back stronger
Westside’s opener against Grovetown was the dream matchup for area fans, and the Patriots played inspiring basketball even in the loss. Senior pogo stick leaper Jalexs Ewing captivated the capacity crowd by scoring 32 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, only to have the game slip away in the final minutes.
Deflated by the loss, Westside, last season’s 2A champion, hit the road for a two-hour trip to Jones County to face the returning class 5A state runner up, Eagles Landing High School. Less than 24 hours into the new season, the Patriots found themselves 0-2 after an 85-72 loss. But Westside quickly dusted off its shoulder to run off three straight victories, including a 101-72 triumph on the road over back-to-back class 3A champ Cross Creek. Senior Khalon Hudson led all scorers with 29 points, Ewing added 23 and a third senior, AuMauri Tillman, contributed 16 in the statement win.
No. 3: Lorrick leads Cross Creek back to the top
The back-to-back class 3A state champion Cross Creek Razorbacks weren’t expected to drop their first three games. But somebody has to lose when two teams go at it, and sixth year head coach Lawrence Kelly chose Grovetown and Westside as his team’s first two opponents.
“We have numerous state champs from last year, and numerous runners up… that we’re playing,” Coach Kelly explained four days before Cross Creek’s opener. “We’ve got elite eight teams on the schedule too. So the fifteen games that we have outside of our region… they’re tough. Like I told our players, every night’s gonna be a challenge. We’ve gotta answer the call.”
The Razorbacks are integrating three transfers (6’7″ senior De’kel Hobbs, senior Isam Anthony, and juniors Kylen Clark and Quavon Henry) into a roster that features 6’7″ senior Antoine Lorrick, 6’7″ sophomore Jaden Priester and senior point guard Dontrel Smith. The first sign of life from the Razorbacks came in the fourth quarter of their fourth game, when Lorrick scored 14 of his team high 21 points to erase a double-digit deficit and complete a 68-66 home win against yet another returning state champion, Augusta Christian. During the win, Lorrick was supported by Priester, who scored 17 points, Smith (12) and Hobbs (11). Lorrick’s game winning dunk right before the buzzer provided a dramatic ending to Cross Creek’s first victory.
And the momentum carried over into Tuesday night’s thrilling 63-59 road win over Butler. Again, Lorrick provided the finishing touches to punctuate a 26-point and 10-rebound performance that helped Cross Creek improve to 2-3 for the young season.
No. 4: Augusta Christian will have the opportunity to prove it’s the area’s best team
Augusta Christian (3-2), last season’s South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) state champion, has managed to join Westside as the two defending champions to emerge from the early weeks with a winning record. All five starters return from last season’s championship team, and the Lions started on the right foot with an 80-78 win over Butler in the Ricky Moore Invitational. DJ Shine, who earned co-player of the year honors last season, refused to lose the opener when he capped a 36-point junior season debut with a game winning jumper.
Shine made 11 of 13 free throws against Butler, and he made 9 of 11 while scoring 26 points ten days later when the Lions barely came up short on the road against Cross Creek. Shine is flanked by 6’10” senior Luke Wilson, who has signed a national letter of intent with Georgia Southern, Khaleel Pratt, a 6’5″ junior who has been a high impact varsity starter since since the eighth grade, and junior Braylen Smith, who regularly makes plays that you aren’t likely to see twice on a high school court.
Of the four returning state champions, Augusta Christian probably has the best opportunity to prove it’s the area’s best team during the remainder of the non-region schedule. It’s the nature of the independent school track that this time of the year means even more to the Lions than it must for the other schools, who will continue to face the best teams from the area, and throughout Georgia, long past December. But Augusta Christian only gets a few shots to earn bragging rights. Soon the Lions will face Kings Ridge Christian Academy, the No. 1 ranked team in Georgia’s class 1A. And when the Lions host Westside this Tuesday in a rematch of last season’s overtime thriller, everyone will be watching.
No. 5: Butler lost its size, but possesses unmatched heart
Butler lost more to graduation than any other returning power after last season’s class 2A runner up finish. But a Cervantes Boddy coached team has never been one to back down. This season’s squad is no exception, and the Bulldogs are one DJ Shine jumper and another Antoine Lorrick finish away from knocking off two returning state champions in Butler’s only two games so far this season. Butler has been led by underclassmen so far as sophomore Marcus Scurry (17.5 ppg), junior Roosevelt Brown and freshman Kwamane Bridges (14 ppg) have joined seniors Zy’Quan Grant and Jashaun Belton in a campaign to teach a lesson to anybody who takes the area’s hardest playing team lightly.
Wild Card: North Augusta flawless in early going
North Augusta, the only team on the list to not reach the state championship game last season, came up one point short of reaching the class 4A semifinals last February. But the Yellow Jackets return a strong core that is led by seniors Elijah Hall and Amarri Wilcher, and 6’3″ sophomore Daron Dunbar. And incoming Grovetown senior transfers Khaleed Haywood and Maliq Richards (6’5″) add to a deep roster that is already experiencing success.
MORE: Thomson’s Jontavis Curry Repeat Best of the Best Winner
Last week North Augusta knocked off AC Flora, the returning South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) class 4A runner up, 51-39, and followed up with a 61-51 Holiday Hoopfeast championship game win over Cardinal Newman at CA Johnson High School. Wilcher, Hall, Heywood and Richards all averaged double figures in the two game set. And Dunbar scored 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in the championship game.
As I’m submitting this report, the Yellow Jackets are tipping off a home game against Dutch Fork, a class 5A semi finalist from last season. And still ahead for North Augusta (3-0), the only undefeated team on my list, are Westside (away, December 6), Cross Creek (away, December 17) and Dutch Fork (away, December 9) again. A strong showing in those games will say a lot about how far up North Augusta belongs on this list, and more importantly, how far the Yellow Jackets will be expected to go come region and playoff time.
Follow Chad Cook’s coverage of local sports on Facebook and Instagram at @AugustaPressSports, and on Twitter at @AugPressSports.
