Now that the New Year has arrived and the parties have been cleaned up, attention can finally turn to the meat of the high basketball season.
January means region play heats up as teams try and position themselves for the all-important region tournaments beginning in early February. Tuesday’s action around northeast Georgia will see some key early action to kickstart the week.
Region 8-A will be the busiest and has two huge matchups on the boys side in particular as Riverside Military Academy travels to Commerce and Lakeview Academy plays host to Hebron Christian. The Lakeview boys sit in first place while Riverside and Hebron are tied for third.
In Region 7-AAA, East Hall travels to Union County in the first matchup of first place teams on the boys side. The two squads are tied with Dawson County at 2-0 atop the standings. On the girls side, six of the seven teams are within a game of first place. Greater Atlanta Christian heads to Lumpkin County.
Banks County at Social Circle is the only Region 8-AA action on Tuesday while East Jackson plays host to Hart County in Region 8-AAA.
Wednesday will offer several big region matchups, including Buford entertaining Clarke Central in Region 8-AAAAA and North Hall heading to Dawson County in Region 7-AAA. Flowery Branch heads to Mill Creek and White County travels to North Forsyth in non-region action.
Friday’s key tilts have top-ranked teams Dacula and Gainesville opening up Region 8-AAAAAA play in Gainesville and West Hall playing host to Blessed Trinity and Chestatee traveling to Marist in Region 7-AAAA.
Below is the schedule of games involving northeast Georgia area teams for the week:
(Games listed in alphabetical order by visiting team.)
(All weekday dates begin at 6 p.m. with girls tip off except where noted.)
Banks County at Social Circle
East Hall at Union County
Greater Atlanta Christian at Lumpkin County
Hart County at East Jackson
Hebron Christian at Lakeview Academy
Riverside Military at Commerce -- 4:30 p.m., boys only
Stephens County at Rabun County
White County boys vs. North Cobb Christian (at Duluth High School in the Big South Classic), 5:45 p.m.
Archer at Lanier, 5 p.m.
Clarke Central at Buford
Commerce at Jackson County
Flowery Branch at Mill Creek
North Hall at Dawson County
White County at North Forsyth
Banks County at Elbert County
Blessed Trinity at West Hall
Chestatee at Marist
Dacula at Gainesville
Dawson County at East Hall
East Jackson at Monroe Area
Greater Atlanta Christian at Fannin County
Habersham Central at Lanier
Jackson County at Franklin County
Jefferson at North Oconee
Lakeview Academy at Tallulah Falls
Lumpkin County at Union County
Oconee County at Stephens County
Rabun County at Monticello
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/1/620880/basketball-region-play-begins-in-earnest-around-ne-georgia