The northeast Georgia area will be strongly represented when the Georgia High School Association state basketball playoffs continue this week.
The state finals will be held over four days with the first two days, Wednesday and Thursday, taking place in Macon and the second two days, Friday and Saturday, at McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus.
At least one area team is assured of a crown, with the possibility of two programs claiming titles.
Three teams -- the Gainesville boys in Class 6A and the Buford and Flowery Branch girls in Class 5A -- all will shoot for championships.
Buford is the reigning Class 5A champion while fellow Region 8-AAAAA foe Flowery Branch is making its first ever appearance in a title game. The two teams have met three times so far this season with the Lady Wolves winning all three. In fact, the Lady Falcons have yet to take a game off Buford since they joined the same region for the the 2016-17 season.
For Buford, it is the eighth appearance in the finals in the last 10 seasons. The Lady Falcons lost in the 2017 semifinals and rallied from 15 down to beat Harris County on Saturday to advance.
Gainesville, meanwhile, is in its first finals since 2013 and is seeking its first state title since winning back-to-back titles in Class 3A in 1983 and 1984. Now in Class 6A Gainesville knocked off Heritage, Conyers on Saturday for the program's second semifinal win in nine tries since those title seasons.
The Red Elephants will take on Langston Hughes, the defending Class 6A champion. Hughes knocked the Red Elephants out of the 2017 playoffs in the quarterfinals in an overtime upset win on Gainesville's home court. Rest assured the Red Elephants will be looking for some redemption.
And Jacobs Media will be providing coverage of not only the games themselves but also will offer stories and video of all three teams during the week as they prepare for their finals showdowns.
The games also will be broadcast live on WDUN AM 550 and 102.9 FM on Thursday and Friday. The games also will be available on streaming on AccessWDUN.com.
Buford and Flowery Branch will tip off at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Macon while Gainesville will take on Langston Hughes at 8 p.m. on Friday at McCamish Pavilion at Georgia Tech.
Three of the four days -- Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday -- will provide four games, each beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday’s action will start at 11 a.m. with the wheelchair title game followed by four more games beginning at 2 p.m.
On Wednesday in Macon, Class 2A and Class A Public will do battle with a pair of games each. On Thursday, after the wheelchair final, Class 3A and Class 5A will take center stage.
On Friday, the action moves to Georgia Tech. Class A Private will begin the day’s action with Class 6A closing out the day with a pair of games.
The tournament will conclude on Saturday at Georgia Tech with Class 4A and Class 7A deciding its champions.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday
CLASS 5A - at Macon Coliseum
6 p.m. - Buford girls vs. Flowery Branch -- WDUN AM 550 and 102.9 FM
Friday
CLASS 6A - at Georgia Tech
8 p.m. - Gainesville boys vs. Langston Hughes -- WDUN AM 550 and 102.9 FM
