Jeff Hart

Marquez Stephens led five players in double figures to lead West Hall to a 72-56 win over Stephens County on the road Saturday night. Dawson County, Buford, and Lumpkin County all picked up wins Saturday in boys basketball action around northeast Georgia.

North Hall pushed Class AA No. 3 Buford to the limit before falling 62-60 Saturday in four overtimes at the Buford gym. West Hall, Lumpkin County, and Dawson County also picked up wins Saturday in girls basketball action around northeast Georgia.

Election officials in Hall County are busy preparing for Super Tuesday, and have predicted that 30 percent of registered voters will cast ballots.

Georgia Tech returns home from a two-game road swing to host Maryland in a 12 noon nationally-televised game Saturday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. It is Tech's only home game in a nearly month-long stretch for the Yellow Jackets, who visit Wake Forest, Connecticut and Clemson in succession over the next week-and-a-half.

Georgia returns home from a two-game road swing to play host to Kentucky in a Saturday afternoon contest. Georgia has fared far better at Stegeman Coliseum this season than anywhere else. The Bulldogs are currently riding the longest home winning streak of the Dennis Felton era at 11 games.

It took eight games but the East Hall boys basketball team is back where it is accustomed to being: on top of the Region 7A-AAA standings. The Vikings never trailed and overcame a sluggish start to run away from North Hall in a 69-50 win at the North Hall gym Friday night. The East Hall girls made it a sweep with a 55-34 win over North Hall in the first game.

The mission for Russ Triaga and his Chestatee boys basketball team is simple: create a mess in Region 7A-AAA in the final two weeks of the regular season. Step 1 was completed Tuesday night when the War Eagles knocked off North Hall 68-61 at the Chestatee gym. In the girls game, North Hall girls avenged an earlier loss to Chestatee with a 51-42 win.

Marist outscored Class AAA No. 8 Flowery Branch 18-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 64-55 win and David Pruett scored 29 points to lead Lakeview Academy to a lopsided win over Prince Avenue Christian Saturday night in boys basketball action.

Class AAA No. 3 Franklin County and Lakeview Academy get big wins Saturday night in girls basketball action around northeast Georgia. North Hall won its fourth straight game in beating West Forsyth in Region 7-AAA action.

Add yet another milestone to the outstanding career of Gainesville boys basketball coach Jerry Davis. Gainesville's 63-46 win over Buford Saturday night at the Gainesville gym gave Davis win No. 700 in his 28-year career. The Buford girls knocked off the Lady Elephants 37-31 in a battle of state-ranked teams in the first game.