MARCH CHECK US OUT AT SCOREATL.COM VOL 6 NO 12 · 2012. 11. 8. · injured and Jaybo Shaw having...

CHECK US OUT AT SCOREATL.COMMARCH 19-25, 2010 VOL 6 NO 12

02 I SCORE ATLANTA Get In The Game!

A L W A Y S A T S C O R E A T L . C O M


“The Fletch” touches on Tech fans and LeoMazzone on 680 The Fan.

I.J. Rosenberg comments on Tiger’s returnand discusses 680’s coverage of the Braves.

Alex Ewalt analyzes basketball statetitle games and previews next season.

Foster Lander gives his picks for the Big Dance.

MARCH 19-25, 2010 SCORE ATLANTA I 03

TEAM SCOOP AND VOICESCOVER DESIGN BY DJ GALBIATICOVER PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS

4 MEDIA 6SCORE LIST - KATREK 7-8 PREPS

9 HAWKS 11 SCORE MORE 12 BRAVES - GA STATE

13 CALENDAR 14 AD INDEX 15 GA TECH - UGA

PUBLISHER/EDITOR I.J. RosenbergGENERAL MANAGER Bob Houghton

MANAGING EDITOR Alex EwaltASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: Stephen Black

ART/CREATIVE DIRECTOR DJ GalbiatiBUSINESS MANAGER Marvin Botnick

SALES MANAGER Mark MayoBEAT WRITERS Josh Bagriansky (Falcons), Stephen Black

(UGA), Jason Boral (Thrashers), Dave Cohen (Georgia State),Ricky Dimon (Tech), Alex Ewalt (Preps),

Rajesh Gupta (Hawks) Fletcher Proctor (Braves)STAFF WRITERS Cranston Collier, Joe Deighton, Zander Lentz, Brian

Penter, Foster Lander, Brian Jones, Jason MurdockCONTRIBUTORS Tad Arapoglou, Dean Zindler, Kevin Dankosky,

Mitch Evans, Matt Judy, Tony Schiavone, Richard Diamond,Joe Haines, Brian Katrek, Chris Dimino, Mike Bell, Matt Stewart, FredKalil, Nick Cellini, Phillip Leopold, Dave Marshall, Greg Smith, Steak

Shapiro, Mike Cather, Beau Bock, Hal Lamar, Chris Cotter, RoyHickman, Dave Cohen, John Olah, Jeff Woolverton, Chris Voss, Bob

Rathbun, Courtney Capps, Bill Hartman, Chuck Dowdle, Shannon Alderman, Dan Kamal, Dennis Scott, C.C., Hal Lanier,

Jeff Batten, Micah Hart, Ben Wright, Alan Vasquez, Andrew Vedlitz, Brian Jones

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Mitch Albom, Dave Kindred, Barry Bloom

SHOT OF THEWEEK…

RATED ROOKIE: Jason Heyward basks inhis newly found stardom at spring training. Bravesfans expect the Henry High School product isexpected to boost the team’s lineup for years tocome. Photo courtesy of Disney.

CHEROKEE/FORSYTH: Cherokee, Creekview, Etowah, Forsyth Central,North Forsyth, Sequoyah, South Forsyth, West Forsyth, Woodstock

COBB: Allatoona, Campbell, Harrison, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain, Lassiter,Marietta, McEachern, N. Cobb, N. Cobb Christian, Pebblebrook,

Pope, S. Cobb, Sprayberry, Walton, WheelerDEKALB: Chamblee, Columbia, Decatur, Druid Hills, Dunwoody, Lakeside,

Marist, Miller Grove, M.L. King, Paideia, Redan, St. Pius X, SouthwestDeKalb, Stephenson, Stone Mountain, Tucker

FULTON: Alpharetta, Blessed Trinity, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Douglass,Grady, Lovett, Mays, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Riverwood,

Roswell, Tri-Cities, Westminster, Woodward AcademyGWINNETT: Berkmar, Brookwood, Buford, C. Gwinnett, Collins Hill, Dacula,

Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Meadowcreek, Mill Creek, Norcross,North Gwinnett, Parkview, Peachtree Ridge, South Gwinnett, Wesleyan

™ STARTINGLINEUP

™ SCHOOLLISTING

ONTH

E Go to Scoreatl.com for spring prep spor tsaction! Check out the latest news on highschool sports teams from all over themetro area. We also provide all springspor ts scores — including baseball, soc-cer, lacrosse, golf and tennis — forAJC.com, so check our website for the lat-est prep spor ts action!

CAN’TMISSCAN’TMISS

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THIS WEEK

Josh Smith



Last week while calling the Class 5A and4A basketball semifinals for Georgia

Public Broadcasting at the Gwinnett Arena, Iran into an old colleague from 790 The Zone,“Hometeam” Brandon Leak. After he was letgo by 790 The Zone in September 2008 andreplaced with David Pollack, Hometeam hasmanaged to keep his hand in the local sportsmarket through various media forms. Leak hasdone some voice-over work for the AtlantaHawks and has made contributions to a blogon the Hawks webpage. “It is a great opportu-nity, working with the Hawks,” says Leak.“The way technology has improved, the web isthe future of this business.”

Leak also co-hosts HawkTalk onComcast OnDemand with fellow former 790The Zone personality Sandra Golden. Leak’sprevious Comcast OnDemand experiencecame as he was the host of the Falcons Reportduring the 2009 season. Hometeam still con-siders himself a “jack of all trades,” whowould love to get back into radio, perhapswith the Hawks. “I’ve been very fortunatethat opportunities have presented themselveswithout leaving the city.” As the playoffs near,check out Hometeam on HawkTalk onComcast OnDemand.

TECH FANS TICKED OFF … Last Sunday on Score Atlanta Sports

Sunday on Sports Radio 790 The Zone, ourshow followed the ACC Championshipgame, featuring Georgia Tech. As 790 is TheOfficial Home of the Yellow Jackets, thegame was aired and after a quick postgamefrom ISP, callers lit up the phone lines andthe first hour and twenty minutes was justTech fans calling in. What was strange wasthe range of callers’ opinions on the program.Some callers thought that Tech made up for a“crappy season” with an NCAA tournamentappearance. More callers than not were

unhappy with the fact that Paul Hewitt likelysaved his job with the appearance in the ACCtitle game and now a bid to the NCAA tour-nament. Several fans called for Hewitt to befired the day after the ACC tournamentended before a contract roll-over was activat-ed, and when I asked who would coach theteam, one caller said, “the same personcoaching it now: no one.”

The Georgia Tech fan base, or at leastthe 19 or so calls we took during those foursegments, were clearly unhappy withHewitt’s performance over the past few sea-sons and the unpleasantness continued thefollowing day on Brandon & Woolv’s showon The Zone. The range was a little widerwith a few more folks calling Brandon andJeff to voice support for Hewitt, but the ratiowas still in favor of canning Hewitt. OnSunday, eight out of 10 callers wanted himgone but by Monday it was maybe six of 10.How will Tech fans feel after the first week-end of the tournament? Tune in this Sundayfrom 2-5 p.m. for Score Atlanta SportsSunday as we will take your calls yet again.

Doug Roberson of the AJC covers theJackets and he appeared on Score AtlantaSports Sunday, where he not only discussedthe basketball team but also gave someinsight into the football team. Roberson saidthat he believes that maybe only two or threetrue freshmen will see time this season andperhaps the defense may take some time tofind the pieces to make the 3-4 work. He alsowent on to say that he thought TevinWashington would take most of the firststring snaps this spring with Josh Nesbittinjured and Jaybo Shaw having left the teamto transfer to Georgia Southern.

MAZZONE TO PRECEDE BRAVES … As we all know by now, 680 The Fan is

the new radio home of the Atlanta Braves.

(Just listen. You’ll hear a promo saying thatwithin eight minutes!) Former Braves pitch-ing coach Leo Mazzone of The RudeAwakening and the Braves pregame showhas now taken up the mantle previously heldby afternoon host Buck Belue as top Bravesapologist. This is understandable asMazzone used to be under the employ of theBraves. Manager Bobby Cox is such a closefriend of Mazzone’s, as are many folks in thelocker room, but some of the comments area bit much. Sometimes we need to hear it asit is. Don’t just sugarcoat everything justbecause you don’t want to hurt feelings. Thisis why Mazzone was brought in. He is sup-pose to give the insight on baseball and thatmeans sometimes delivering the hard line.We all know Leo has it in him. RememberTim Spooneybarger? Perhaps after Coxleaves the Braves and the team doesn’tresemble the team it was with Leo rockingon the bench, maybe then honest, apology-free analysis will be offered up.

RE-RUNS NOT NECESSARY ... Speaking of morning shows, do they real-

ly need a break that early in the program? BothThe Rude Awakening and Mayhem in the AMregularly run interviews from the previous dayaround 6:30 or 6:50. Really? Just two or threesegments in? Are the guys stopping for a cof-fee break? I understand wanting to replay big-time interviews, like when Buck & Kincadehad Michael Vick on or when the Stews inter-viewed some of the big names at the SuperBowl, but some of the interviews are re-aired.I didn’t want to hear them the FIRST timearound. Seriously guys, you offer replays onthe website. If I want to hear an interview Imissed, I’ll go to the website. You don’t have tore-air them for me when I’d rather hear somefresh material on my way to the gym.

Finally, Michael Vick is to appear on this

season of Spike TV’s “Pros vs Joes”. Theannouncement was made a few days after Vickappeared on a St. Louis Radio station declaringthat he’d love to play for the Rams. This wasafter he was on another radio interview sayinghe’d like to play for the Carolina Panthers.Umm, Michael, the last time I checked, thePhiladelphia Eagles picked up your rosterbonus and decided to keep you for the secondyear of the two-year deal that you signed. Youare Eagles’property until they decide to cut youor trade you. Quit pining to be on another teamand show loyalty to the team that took the bul-let to sign you. And maybe try and keep yourhead down and out of the media for a while.You know. Let people breath a little more afterthe whole “I killed dogs,” thing.

Proctor can be reached [email protected].

Leak still Atlanta’s “Hometeam”, Tech fans vent on Hewitt, and Leo on 680CAN YOU BELIEVE...

...HE SAID THAT?D. Orlando Ledbetter is the AJC Falcons beatwriter and Mr. Ledbetter decided to releasehis own mock draft, which is cool. Everyonehas one these days. The prediction for theAtlanta Falcons is what I think is bizarre.Ledbetter has Atlanta selecting FloridaGator center “LaShawn” Maurkice Pounceyat No. 19. Ledbetter acknowledges that thisselection, for the second-straight week, hasmade some readers “irate” but he attemptsto justify the pick by saying that the Falconsneed interior offensive linemen, and it isnoted that Damien Woody went No. 17 andJeff Faine went No. 21. To that, I argue thatAtlanta-native and Colts center JeffSaturday was undrafted and current Falconscenter Todd McClure was a seventh roundpick. Yes, Pouncey may be a quality center,but to take him at No. 19? Seriously?

A WORD ON HEWITT …Georgia Tech let the big contract roll

over, and head coach Paul Hewitt will beback for another season. Hewitt’s team madea nice run in the ACC tournament but has a

The weather is lousy, the winter wants tolast another few weeks and I’m downright

cranky. So, here we go …I’m glad the golf world is relieved, as

Tiger Woods announced that he will return tothe golf course, probably making his firstappearance at the Masters inAugusta. Not surprising thatWoods picked Augusta wherethey can control the crowds and,for the most part, the media.

I’m hoping that we will see anew Tiger Woods but rather doubtit. Woods’s apology a few weeksago sounded forced to me, and Iam starting to think that if it was-n’t for golf, he would be workingat Sports Authority selling shoes.His cocky and “I don’t have timefor you” attitude would certainlyfit in with those at that chain.

I am wondering how theESPN and CBS announcingcrews will handle the situation onthe air. The powers that be inAugusta have total, and I meantotal, control over what goes outon the airways. In fact, I thinkthey have more control these daysthen what the Chinese govern-ment has over their announcers.

We’ll see what type of jour-nalist CBS play-by-play man JimNantz is as it will sound awfullystupid if he avoids talking aboutwhat Woods has gone throughrecently. I also will be surprised ifWoods talks about anything but golf.Remember, he has yet to face the media andanswer questions, but is still in total control ofhis situation like he has been for all these years.

Woods would certainly help himself bycoming out early in the week, allowing themedia to ask their questions. Seriously, rightnow not many are interested in how he hitshis 7-iron. The golf world will care once theMasters starts but for now they want to hearhim explain himself.

Again, I may be way off but my betis Woods hides behind the walls ofAugusta National.

when I was the beat writer that he hadstopped reading the newspaper. Hewitt hassaid the same thing, yet he seems to knoweverything that has been written. Cox wasthe same way and finally I said, “Bobby, you

told me you stopped reading the AJCbut you always know what I wroteand bring it up.” He answered me bysaying, “Well, my wife reads it, too.”

SPEAKING OF THE BRAVES …It’s interesting to see the team

move over its radio network to 680The Fan. I like the fact that theyhired former Channel 2 broadcasterChuck Dowdle to handle postgameshows and look forward to hearingformer pitching coach Leo Mazzonerattle on. But I am surprised thatthey put former Georgia quarterbackBuck Belue into heading up thepregame show. It doesn’t make anysense putting in a football player intothat role and it isn’t as if Belue iseasy on the ears during the fourhours he does every day. Actually, Iwould have rather seen the station gowith Belue’s partner Jon Kincade,who, while obnoxious, would havemade things interesting before everygame. My biggest problem with 680having the Braves is that their signalis a weak one at night and I know Ican’t hear the station at my home inRoswell after the sun goes down.That’s why it was so nice when the

team was on WSB 750 AM.

AND FINALLY …Answer me this question: School sys-

tems are cutting teachers, increasing the sizeof classrooms and cutting programs but whatdo you think the response would be if the highschools cut out freshman sports? I think youwould have parents breaking down the doorsof every county school board, which is a sadstatement on our education system today.While I think sports is very important in theschools, I just wish this country took more

time to focus on the academic part of theschools and would like to see a public outcryon what is happening to our schools. For me,the way to fix the system is to put in place oneof these car executives, like the one at Ford,which has come in and saved these compa-nies. That type of person will know how tooverhaul what is a very broken system.

And there you go, I feel much betternow. Now if it would only stop raining …

Rosenberg can be reached at 404-256-1572 or [email protected]. Score islooking for interns and has a sales positionopen. If you are interested, email a resume [email protected] or call Stephen Black atthe number above. Also, make sure to checkout Score Atlanta Sports Sunday on 790 TheZone every Sunday from 2-5 p.m.

near impossible track in the NCAATournament, starting with Oklahoma Statetonight. Hewitt has been bothered by the crit-icism he has received in the media and haslashed out at reporters and fans that he feelshave gone overboard with their remarks. I’msurprised Hewitt has let this get to him. I’vealways felt coaches get paid an awful lot ofmoney, and because of that and the expecta-tion to win, they are better off just ignoringthings like that. Hewitt reminds me of Bravesmanager Bobby Cox, who used to tell me

Woods sets return date, Hewitt still riled up and 680 solidifies Braves team

CATCH I.J. ON SUNDAYS‘Woods’s apology a few weeks ago sounded forced to me, and Iam starting to think that if it wasn’t for golf, he would be work-ing at Sports Authority selling shoes.’

AT THE READY: The Braves are gearing up for Bobby Cox’s last season at the helm.Atlanta hopes to mesh key offseason acquisitions with veterans to make a run atthe NL East in their legendary manager’s final season. Photo courtesy of Disney.

OUT FRONT

Everyone knows that the state highschool basketball championshipswere decided this past weekend.But not many knew that the wheelchair basketball title games tookplace over the same weekend atGwinnett Arena. The young ath-letes dazzled spectators with theirremarkable skills. Photo courtesyof Photographic Arts.





THUMBS UP TO LOCKING UP A BERTH

THUMBS DOWN TO A BIG SLIDE

Tech basketball A week ago, Tech’s losses to Clemsonand Virginia Tech landed them at a dis-appointing 7-9 in the ACC, but threewins in the ACC tournament landedthem in the NCAA tournament. Techwas named a No. 10 seed in theMidwest bracket and they’ll play theNo. 7 seed Oklahoma State in the firstround in Milwaukee.

Dallas Mavericks After a 13-game winning streak in whichthey took down top teams such as theLakers and the Hawks, the Mavericks final-ly slipped and lost in a game against theKnicks. Nonetheless, the Mavericks’ hotstreak has placed them in a secure numberone spot in the Southwest Division.

Georgia tennis After 21 seasons as the Bulldogs’ men’stennis head coach, Manuel Diaz has acareer record of 500-102 and is the sixthGeorgia coach in any sport to ever reach the500 mark. Diaz’s tennis squad is off toanother great start this season, getting to12-2 and 4-0 in the SEC.

Atlanta Thrashers Just a week ago, the Thrashers wereat the No. 8 seed in the EasternConference, but their five consecutivelosses severely hurt their potentialplayoff run. In order to secure a play-off spot, they would have to win 12 oftheir final 15 games (as of presstime), which is highly unlikely. Theyare now 11th in the conference.

Andre Agassi Agassi took some shots at longtime rival PeteSampras last week at a charity event match.Agassi quoted the rumor that Sampras is abad tipper. The crowd laughed but by the endof the event, Agassi’s apology and Sampras’sno show for a post-match news conferenceindicated that Agassi had crossed the line.

Carolina Panthers It’s been rough the last few years for thePanthers, with some inconsistencies fromquarterback Jake Delhomme. In a press con-ference held last Friday, an emotional headcoach John Fox and general manager MartyHurney discussed the team’s pivotal decisionto release Delhomme along with four otherplayers who started a combined 102 games.

SANITY

“We’re going to have to dig down and grind out games.

We’re trying to stay at the top.We’re trying to win our

division. To do that you’ve got to win road games.”

– Hawks coach Mike Woodson onthe stretch run of the season

CRUNCHING THE

NUMBERS AT LASTTIGER’S BACK!Tiger Woods will make his return to golf

at the Masters. He said he wasn't going to beready any time before that. Can Tigerexpect to contend in a major aftersuch a long layoff with no tour-naments to warm up? Considerthis _ twice in his career, Tigerhas made a comeback at amajor after a layoff of nineweeks or more. The first was atthe 2006 US Open after his fatherdied. He missed the cut. The otherwas the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines

after the first of two knee surgeries that year.That time he won in the Monday playoff

with Rocco Mediate, then won again atthe same course after his second

knee surgery. Tiger is very good inhis first tournament of the yearand 50 percent in major champi-onships. I expect him to be ready.

Brian Katrek can be heard on790 The Zone’s “On The Green

with Brian Katrek” Sundays from8-9 a.m. and can be reached at

[email protected].

27 29 2

National ranking of the LadyDogs in total number ofNCAA appearances.

The number of women’sNCAA tournaments held.

Appearances by the Georgiawomen’s basketball team inthe NCAA tournament.

SCORE LISTDANCE, DANCE: After a greatrun in the ACC Tournament, GeorgiaTech will try to win a national titleas they take on Oklahoma State inthe NCAA Tournament. Can theJackets make a Cinderella run andhave a strong finish to their disap-pointing season? Stay tuned.

HEWITT ROLLS ON: And stay-ing on Tech, it looks like PaulHewitt will be with the team foranother season as his contractwas rolled over. If it wasn’t rolledover by Tuesday, Tech would havefired Hewitt and would have owedhim over $8 million. Yeah, toughdecision for Tech.

WHAT ABOUT THE GIRLS?:Let’s not forget about the women asboth Georgia and Georgia Tech havereached the NCAA Tournament.Georgia will play against Tulane onSaturday while Tech will take onArkansas-Little Rock on Sunday.Good luck to both teams.

TIGER ON THE PROWL: That’sright. Tiger Woods will make hisreturn to golf at the place that madehim a star – The Masters. Woods hasnot taken part in a tournament sincethe fall and every media outlet willtry to get a credential for the event.Good luck TMZ and US Weekly.

SMOLTZ REJOINS BRAVES:Not as a player, but John Smoltz willreturn to the Braves as a broadcast-er. He will call some games onPeachtree TV but will make his 2010debut on April 6 on when he callsthe Yankees-Red Sox game with BobCostas on the MLB Network.

GET WELL JOE: If the Hawks aregoing to make a run at the No. 2 orNo. 3 seed, they need all of their keyplayers healthy, especially JoeJohnson, who has missed the last twogames with a sore Achilles tendon.Not a major injury, but it’s somethingthat could nag Johnson for a while.

TECH NABS ’11 RECRUIT:They may be gearing up for the 2010season, but 2011 is not far behindand they already got their first 2011commitment. East Hall’s ChazCheeks made his verbal commitmentto Tech on Tuesday. Cheeks is a bigDE that will fit in the new defense.

OH NO ZACH: The Bulldogsreceived some bad news on Sundayas QB Zach Mettenberger wasarrested outside a South Georgiabar on five misdemeanor chargesincluding underage drinking. This isdisappointing for Mettenbergerbecause he had a shot at becomingthe starter this year.

BACK TO SCHOOL: FormerFalcons coach Jim Mora decided totake a break from the NFL and willnow do some coaching at BellevueHigh School in Seattle, Wash. It’snot yet determined what role he willhave but I hope they don’t have himdoing post-game interviews.

OBAMA IS DANCING:President Barack Obama has filledout his own bracket and his FinalFour consists of Kansas, KansasState, Villanova and Kentucky.Some people may think that heshould focus on political issuesrather than a bracket. Come on peo-ple. It’s just a bracket!!

BY BRIAN JONES

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The high school basketball season endedwith its usual finales at Gwinnett Arena

and the Macon Coliseum, and the theme ofthe week was the overall dominance of ahandful of schools.

Seven schools sent both basketball teamsto the semifinals in their classification, withtwo sweeps. Milton, Westlake, Columbia,LaGrange, Greater Atlanta Christian, Laneyand Wesleyan all asserted themselves as someof the state’s premier basketball schools withdouble Final Four appearances. Wesleyan inClass A and Columbia in 3A pulled off therare sweep. Since the GHSA has been hold-ing girls and boys state titles (1945), only fiveschools had pulled off that feat: Roopville in1959 in Class C; Greater Atlanta Christian in’72 in Class C; Clinch County in ’87 in ClassA; Southwest Atlanta Christian in ’06 inClass A; and Wesleyan in ’08 in Class 2A.Rare company, indeed.

Though the semifinals were marked bythose dual appearances, the finals themselveswere much more competitive than last year. Lastseason’s championships were decided, in all 10games, by at least 15 points (two contests).However, this year saw much closer scores andmore parity in the finals, and several gameswere hotly contested going down to the wire.

REDAN UPSET ...Even though title weekend started out

with more DeKalb dominance in the form ofblowout wins by the Southwest DeKalb girlsand Miller Grove boys (4A seems especiallyto be one of the more lopsided divisions), the5A games offered a lot of excitement laterthat night. Norcross shocked the crowd atGwinnett and knocked off Redan, which hadrecently risen as high as No. 6 in the USAToday national girls poll, by double digits. Itwas a coming-out party for DiamondDeShields and Kaela Davis, two dynamitefreshmen for Norcross who stole the spotlightfrom Nia Evans and Redan. Talk about

national recognition, Norcross is now gettingit in spades with the star power of DeShieldsand Davis continuing to grow; ESPN was inNorcross just a few weeks ago to talk to thephenoms for a feature story on its website.

Milton’s boys won their first state titleand fulfilled a prophecy that many made ayear ago after the young Eagles lost toWheeler in the 5A championship game.You’ve likely heard the big names from DavidBoyd’s squad: juniors Julian Royal, Dai-JonParker and Shannon Scott and sophomoreEvan Nolte lived up to the billing against agame Westlake squad, which unfortunatelylost leading scorer Marcus Thornton to anankle injury right before halftime.

Class 3A saw two games that were indoubt until the final minutes of the game,when Columbia’s Eagles kept away theiropponents in both finals. Greater AtlantaChristian reaffirmed its status as an elite boysteam by dispatching Thomasville, althoughnot by as many points as many expected; a12-point margin was enough, however, for theSpartans, who finish the year with only oneloss (to out-of-state Melrose, Tenn.). Thepowerhouse Buford girls beat Vidalia by thesame margin of victory in a similarly surpris-ing non-blowout; although to give Vidaliacredit, the Indians were undefeated before thegame and had run away from most of theircompetition all year. And Class A gave us anunexpected turn of events when Wesleyan, aNo. 4 seed, defeated two favored opponentsin Macon to grab the trophy. The Wolvesdefeated Whitefield Academy, the defendingchampion, largely on the shooting prowess ofits solid stable of guards and inspired playfrom its undersized front line.

Though two teams (the Redan girls andthe Whitefield Academy boys) were deniedrepeats in the finals, the championships stillfeatured back-to-backers in SouthwestDeKalb’s girls (three times in a row, in fact),Miller Grove’s boys, Buford’s girls and

Wesleyan’s girls (three times in a row andseven of the last nine). And it’s tough to arguethat most of those repeat winners will dropoff significantly. SWD loses eight impactseniors, but Miller Grove returns seven big-time sophomores, Buford returns all-every-thing junior-to-be Andraya Carter, andWesleyan is, well, Wesleyan. They reload.There’s enough talent in the state to challengethese juggernauts, as the championship gamescores will reinforce, but basketball inGeorgia has become a sport of dynasties.

SET UP FOR SUCCESS … The aforementioned Milton boys will be

back next year, and their goal will again benothing short of a championship. Boyd, whobecame the first Georgia head basketball coachto win state titles at four different schools(Campbell, Tucker, Berkmar and now Milton),has also proclaimed an even loftier goal: a con-sensus national championship. Even before theseason started and the Eagles were trying toforget the loss to Wheeler in a surprise title-game appearance, Boyd had mentioned thepossibility of a No. 1 ranking at the end of2011. Back in October, Boyd told JasonHickman of MaxPreps, “Our goal for this yearis to win the state championship and be nation-ally ranked, and for next year, win the statechampionship and the national championship.”

The Eagles may have a ways to go torealize that goal — they lost four times thisseason, twice to top out-of-state competitionand twice in the region — but the schedulewill again allow them to stay in the spotlight.Milton is one of a growing number of teamsin-state that can be considered national pro-grams, and the Eagles should dominateGeorgia teams as well when they move towhat promises to be a much weaker Region6-AAAAA under the new realignment.

All championship game photos courtesyof Photographic Arts. Ewalt can be reachedat [email protected].

Prep hoops finals featured usual suspects, but title games closer than last year


HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS REPORT I07

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPRESULTS

Class AAAAABoys

Milton 56, Westlake 46Girls

Norcross 76, Redan 63

Class AAAABoys

Miller Grove 67, Mays 35Girls

SW DeKalb 65, NW Whitfield 46

Class AAABoys

Columbia 54, LaGrange 46Girls

Columbia 40, Carver-Atlanta 36

Class AABoys

Greater Atl. Chr. 77, Thomasville 65Girls

Buford 50, Vidalia 38

Class ABoys

Wesleyan 63, Whitefield Acad. 52Girls

Wesleyan 65, Savannah Chr. 49


HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS REPORT08

Columbia and Wesleyan sweep hoops titles; Milton outduels Westlake for 5A championship

Milton played its way into the Class 5A championshipgame with a fair amount of ease. The Eagles destroyed

Newton in the semifinals 86-54 as four players scored in dou-ble figures, led by Julian Royal with 24 points. Milton madea bold statement with the 32-point win over a team that hadgone 30-1 on the season.

Westlake had a little tougher road, winning 73-67 in overtimeover Central Gwinnett. After Central tied it at the end of regula-tion, the Lions went on a 6-0 run to start the overtime. Seniorguard Jeff Newberry scored seven of his 14 points in the extra ses-sion. Westlake’s star Marcus Thornton led the team with 24 pointsand 15 rebounds. That set up an all-county championship game.

Unfortunately, it was practically over before it got start-ed. Westlake’s Marcus Thornton injured his ankle duringpregame warm-ups. He started, but only scored two pointsbefore leaving the game injured.

Although the game was close at halftime with Miltonleading 28-26, the Lions proved they could not compete with-out their key player. The Eagles were led by junior guard Dai-Jon Parker’s 19 points and six rebounds. Sophomore EvanNolte and junior Julian Royal took advantage of the lack ofinside presence and combined for 29 points to go along withRoyal’s five blocks. It was the fifth statechampionship with four different schools for head coachDavid Boyd. With no seniors on the roster, Milton is the clear-cut favorite to win the championship again next season.

Joe Deighton can be reached at [email protected].

The Georgia High School state basketball playoffs wrappedup this week with Whitefield Academy making a run for

the Class A title. Whitefield, the defending champions, werepart of the semifinals for the seventh time in nine years, tak-ing on Wesleyan on Saturday, March 13, in the championshipgame. The Wolf Pack was unable to defend their title, withWesleyan taking a hard-fought 63-52 victory. The game wasbrutal from the onset, featuring 51 fouls called and 65 freethrows attempted. Andrew Frerking led the offense forWesleyan, racking up 26 points, 18 of which occurred in thesecond half. Tekele Cotton led Whitefield with 18 points,while Chris Lovelance tallied 16 and Kennard Backmanadded 11. The championship was the second in four years forWesleyan, as well as the second time in three years that boththe girls and boys have taken their respective title.

With the basketball playoffs in the books, baseball seasonis now in full swing. After opening up the season with a tie anda win, Marietta High School recorded their third straight loss onThursday, falling to Pope 6-3. The baseball schedule for theupcoming weekend is full as well with 14 different CobbCounty games taking place on Friday. Whitefield, Walker andSprayberry are all set to begin play at 5:00 p.m. Marietta willlook to improve upon their record when they take on Etowah at5:55, with Campbell, Hillgrove, Kell, Kennesaw Mountain,Lassiter, McEachern, North Cobb and Pope to begin play at thetime as well. Allatoona is set to get started at 6 p.m. and Waltonwill round out the day’s schedule with a 7 p.m. start time.

Krissy Wade can be reached at [email protected].

FULTONJOE DEIGHTON

COBBKRISSY WADE

South Forsyth has probably its best golf squad under coachMatt Loveless and is out to prove that its program belongs

among the state’s elite. The War Eagles are off to a fast startalready this season. The team is talented and experienced withfive seniors in Matt Mierzejewski, Austin Ujhelyi, SeanStanfill, Brian Bowes, and Connor Paton. Chris Guglielmo, afreshman who has already shot the low round of the year witha 69 at the Apple Mountain Invitational, has also contributedheavily to the team’s early success. Next up for the team is theGainesville Big Red Shootout which has been rescheduled forMarch 22nd. South Forsyth is the two-time defending cham-pion at that tournament and the War Eagles look to make aneven bigger statement in their attempted three-peat.

The Etowah boys lacrosse team feels like they have afighter’s chance to sneak into the state tournament. TheEagles have won their first two games this season beatingStarr’s Mill and Campbell with solid play from their attack-ers and midfielders. However, the leader of the team hasbeen goalie, Ryan Peters, who has already received severalscholarship offers.

North Forsyth got its first win on the year Mondayagainst Duluth 14-3 at Raider Valley. Going into the game,midfielder Cody Betke (17 ground balls), attacker ZachWork (7 points), and goalie Tanner Short (83 saves) wereleading the team in most offensive and defensive categories.On March 24th, the Raiders will host 2009 state semifinalistand region-leader Milton.

Rajesh Gupta can be reached at [email protected].

CHEROKEE/FORSYTHRAJESH GUPTA

Ten teams became basketball state champions last week andDeKalb County was a major force as always, with four

DeKalb teams taking home silverware. The Miller Grove Wolverines captured a state title in

class AAAA for the second consecutive season. Last year, itwas a talented senior class that paved the path to glory. Butthis year, Sharman White’s squad surprised everyone by qual-ifying for the finals with seven sophomores on the roster. Bythe time they faced off with Mays for the state title, the youth-ful team had become a well-oiled machine, having won theirlast 21 games. They made it 21 in a row with ease, runningthrough the Raiders by a score of 67-45.

At Southwest DeKalb, the Panthers are enjoying adynasty of sorts, winning their third consecutive state title.SWD won 19 of their final 20 games, including a huge 65-45win over Northwest Whitefield to win the Class AAAA title.The team opened up the game on a 14-0 run and never lookedback, becoming the first DeKalb County team ever to winthree consecutive state championships.

In Class 3A, it was Columbia dominating the competition,with the boys and girls teams both taking home state titles. Forthe boys squad, it was a second consecutive title in a 54-46 winover LaGrange. Northwestern commit Jershon Cobb cementedhis legacy as one of the top players in CHS’ illustrious historyafter scoring 20 points in the game.

Josh Bagiransky can be reached at [email protected].

Gwinnett County was five for five in state championship bas-ketball games last week as the Norcross girls, the Buford girls,

the GAC boys and both Wesleyan squads all claimed titles for the2009-2010 season. Gwinnett County had seven representatives inthe semifinals and grabbed half of the 10 state titles awarded.

In Class 5A, the Norcross girls were able to knock off thedefending state champion Redan Raiders 76-63 with excel-

lent free throw shooting down the stretch. DiamondDeShields finished with 17 points and eight rebounds whileKaela Davis led Norcross with 21 points.

In Class 2A, Gwinnett County brought home both titleswith Buford repeating as the girls champion and Greater

Atlanta Christian winning the boys title. The Lady Wolveswon a second straight title despite losing eight seniors enter-ing this year. Sophomore Andraya Carter scored 20 points.

On the boys side of the Class 2A title game, GAC cameup huge against Thomasville with a 77-65 win to finish

undefeated against in-state opponents and 32-1 overall. JuniorMalcolm Brogdon finished with 26 points and 15 reboundswhile senior center Trent Wiedeman tallied 18 points and 13rebounds despite foul trouble.

Wesleyan won both the boys and the girls titles in ClassA. The boys won the program’s second title in three years

thanks in part to Andrew Frerking’s 26 points, including four3-pointers in the fourth quarter. The girls also claimed a title,its third straight. Holli Wilkins scored 17 points while fellowsophomore Jordan Frazier poured in sixteen points to helpWesleyan best Savannah Christian 65-49.

Fletcher Proctor can be reached at [email protected].

DeKALBJOSH BAGRIANSKY

GWINNETTFLETCHER PROCTOR

ANDREW FRERKINGWESLEYAN HIGH

An important junior forward/guardfor Wesleyan, No. 25 helpedWesleyan clinch the Class Aboys basketball title as theybeat Whitefield Academy 63-52.Frerking scored 18 points in thesecond half and 26 points over-all. Frerking averaged 15.1points and three rebounds agame. He is also the quarterbackfor the Weslyan football team.

ANDRAYA CARTERBUFORD HIGH

This 5-8 Sophomore guard justhelped the Lady Wolves win theClass 2A state championshipagainst Vidalia last Saturday,scoring 13 points in the firsthalf alone. Carter has beenselected as Region 6 player ofthe year in Class 2A. She hasalso received several offersalready to Division 1-A schools.

THE HIGH SCHOOLPLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THE PREP EDITIONS WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK; MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT INSERTED CAMP GUIDE

The Hawks picked up wins over theWashington Wizards and Detroit Pistons

stopping a two game slide and reclaiming theNo. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Wizards putup more of a fightthan was expected— or wanted forthat matter — but

the Hawks still persevered and won 105-99.Jamal Crawford tied a season-high with 29points. Washington stuck close to the Hawksbehind big games from post players JaValeMcGee (20 points and nine rebounds) and AndreBlatche (30 points and 10 rebounds). However,key mistakes hindered the Wizards in making anupset bid as they committed 20 turnovers andshot a dismal 1-for-13 from the 3-point line.

The Pistons, who have struggled as of late,were no match for the Hawks’ scorching start.Atlanta converted over 70 percent of their firstquarter attempts in route to the 112-99 win.Josh Smith scored 18 points and passed for acareer high 11 assists. Joe Johnson led all scor-ers in the game with 26 points on 10-of-15shooting. As a team, the Hawks made 63 per-cent of their shots on the night.

LOOKING AHEAD ...Atlanta begins a week of games against

four teams, all of whom sport winning records.The Charlotte Bobcats kick things off on

Friday night at Philips Arena. After a red hot12-4 January, the Bobcats cooled off a bit inFebruary which seemed to trickle into March,where they lost their first two. As of latethough, the team has rebounded and have wonsix straight. The teams have split two gamesthus far in the season with the Hawks gettingthe better end of the last, 103-89. JamalCrawford scored 24 points and Al Horfordadded 23 points in that victory and both willsurely play a pivotal role in this game as theBobcats have only given up 87.5 points pergame during their current win streak.

Atlanta will stay at home to face SanAntonio on Sunday. Despite the age and historyof ailments, the Spurs simply continue to find away to win and currently hold the No. 7 spot inthe ultra competitive Western Conference play-off race. The team’s latest setback was TonyParker suffering a broken ring finger on March9, leaving him inactive for the next four to fiveweeks. While the Spurs have continued to play

good basketball in his absence, losing a playerlike Parker will not be easy for this team as theytry and gain position in the playoff race againstteams like the Hawks.

Lately, the Bucks have been one of thehottest teams in the NBA, so the Hawks mustbring their A-game when they travel toMilwaukee on Monday night. The Bucks arein the midst of a 12-2 run despite losing toAtlanta on February 28.

The perimeter shooting and the insidepresence of Dwight Howard has flat outstymied the Hawks as they search for a way tooutmatch the Magic in the teams’ third meet-ing of the year. Two previous games this yearhave left the Hawks retreating to the drawingboards as they are yet to find the winning for-mula against the Southeast Division leader.

Photo of Marvin Williams courtesy ofDon Jackson. Gupta can be reached at [email protected].

Hawks sweep two games, re-take third place in Eastern Conference





Collecting college sports materialfrom your favorite school can be

as basic or diverse as you want. Mostcollectors tend to focus on football orbasketball. Some of the more popularthemes of college collecting includeprograms, tickets, media guides/year-books, game-used items, tradingcards, pennants, buttons, stadiumseats, and schedules. And what collec-tion would be complete without thecommemorative beer stein or shotglass with your college’s logo?

IN THE NEWS … There is a little over a month left in

the NBA regular season. With the playoffrace heating up on the court, check whatautographed jerseys are atop the collect-ing world on this week’s on-line auctionreport. The possibilities are: DwightHoward, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James,Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Durant.

And the winner with collectors is KingKobe. The Bryant signed jersey just edgedout the James Jersey $1450 to $1325.

FROM THE MAILBAG … Dear Dean: I have a couple of

Atlanta Falcons football cards that saycomplements of Frito Lay on them. Doyou know anything about these?

Dear Junk Food Junkie: The foot-ball cards were issued by Frito Lay in1982. There were 28 different Falconplayers in the set. It is a very tough setto find. Sets are worth $50.

Dear Dean: For the past 30 years,I have been trying to find the propertitle of a pin set I have had since I was akid. I have 30 different pins includingDiMaggio, Gehrig, McCarthy, Ruffing,Foxx, etc. I was wondering how manypins were in the set and what theapproximate. value would be.

Dear Pin Man: The pins are from1938 and are referred to in the hobby asOur National Game Pins. There are 30pins in the sets, which are worth $500,but prices can vary depending uponcondition of the pins. The pins are proneto chipping and rust.

Want to know what your item isworth or have a question about a partic-ular sports item? Email me, DeanZindler, at [email protected].

Popular March Madness collectibles The Atlanta Hawks have less than 20

games left in the regular season toanswer two very important questionsbefore the playoffs begin. The mostpressing question appears to be whetherthey will end up with the No. 3 seed orthe No. 4 seed since it is pretty safe toassume they will not overtake Orlandofor the No. 2 seed. It certainly soundsbetter to finish third as opposed tofourth, but the reality of the situation isthat the No. 4 seed would be better forthe Atlanta Hawks. If they finish third,they will likely have a second round datewith the Orlando Magic who they havebeen unable to compete with over thelast two seasons. If they finish fourththey’d likely have a second round datewith the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It sounds crazy that the Hawksshould aspire to play the team with theleague’s best record, but Cleveland is abetter matchup for them. While theyhaven’t beaten the Cavs either, theirgames are a lot more competitivewhile the Hawks consistently getblown out by the Magic. Their best bet

at getting to the conference final is togo through Cleveland.

TEAGUE NEEDS MORE TIME ...The other question the Hawks need

to answer is whether or not the pointguard situation needs to be addressed yetagain. Jeff Teague is averaging less than10 minutes per game, yet we’re all sup-posed to believe that when Mike Bibbyis no longer capable of playing at a highlevel they’ll just turn the team over tohim and all will be well.

I know the Hawks are playing forplayoff positioning, but if Teague reallyis the future point guard of this team thenhe needs to start going through growingpains now. During next season expecta-tions will be even higher, so the marginfor error is going to be a lot smaller.There’s going to be a learning curve sothey may as well try to get as far ahead ofit as possible. Hopefully, they’ll use theselast few regular season games to give thekid a real opportunity to prove his worth.

C.C. can be reached [email protected].

Can Hawks beat the big boys?

In a month that started with two wins inthe first four days of March, the

Atlanta Thrashers have confirmed whatmost fans had feared when the teamtraded away Ilya Kovalchuk: it’s goingto be tough to win. Since the team’s 6-3win over the New York Islanders onMarch 4, the team has yet to score morethan two goals and have only managedone point since then, which came duringan overtime loss to the Coyotes. Evenwith the team playing better as of lateand finally getting some production onthe power play, the offense of heraldedcoach John Anderson has been few andfar between. Three times the belea-guered Atlanta defense has allowed twogoals or fewer in regulation, but eachtime the Thrashers left with a loss.

FLYERS COME CALLING ...The Philadelphia Flyers could add

salt to the wound, who even with a loss tothe Thrashers this season, seem to savetheir best games for contests againstAtlanta. This week they’ll get two chancesas Atlanta will host the Flyers on Saturdaynight before traveling up to Philadelphiafor a rematch Sunday evening.

The Flyers will be ready to see anopponent they’ve fared so well against

through the years because of their ownswoon taking place in the month ofMarch. Their play has been schizophrenic,demonstrated by their seven goal outburstfollowed by a loss in which they allowedseven goals in the span of 24 hours.Atlanta will also be the final stop for theFlyers on their four game road trip, whichincluded stops in Nashville and Dallasbefore returning home on Sunday.

The struggles of the Flyers can bedemonstrated by the lack of productionfrom one of the team’s top scorers, MikeRichards. This season Richards has put upexcellent numbers scoring 26 goals andhelping on 28 others. His 54 points are justfour behind Jeff Carter for the team lead.Lately, Richards has all but disappeared,scoring no points in the last three games.This drought is following one of the beststretches of the year for Richards whoscored a point in six consecutive games, astreak that began before the Olympics.

After Philly, the Thrashers will hostthe Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at 7p.m. and then the bottom feeders of theEastern Conference, the Toronto MapleLeafs, will be visit Philips Arena onThursday night at 7 p.m.

Boral can be reached at [email protected].

Goals at a premium for ThrashersBirds sign Giordano; experts predict draft Aplethora of new players will be

added to the Atlanta Falcons’ rosternext month after the 2010 NFL Draft.Last year’s 9-7 campaign gave Atlantaback-to-back winning seasons, but alsofell wildly below the expectations set inthe preseason and exposed a variety ofholes on both sides of the ball.

The draft prognostications have theFalcons filling those holes in many differ-ent manners in the first round of the draft,where Atlanta has the No. 19 pick. ScottWright of draftcountdown.com predictsthe Birds will pick Missouri outside line-backer Sean Witherspoon with theirselection. Witherspoon wowed everyoneat the combine, and would give Atlanta asource of youth and playmaking ability ata position that yielded mixed results fromveterans Mike Peterson and StephenNicholas last year. Wright calls theMizzou product the “total package” andalso hails his intangibles on and off thefield, an area that the organization placesa great amount of importance.

Pat Kirwan of NFL.com says thepick will be Brandon Graham, a defen-sive end from Michigan that the writersays can “stay on the field for all threedowns to play coverage and rush thepasser.” Much like Witherspoon,Kirwan claims poor character is not anissue with Graham.

ROSTER MOVES … The Falcons continued to tweak

their secondary with the signing of safe-ty Matt Giordano. The California BearAlum was a member of the IndianapolisColts’ Super Bowl winning team in2007 and played for the Green BayPackers last season. He has played in 60career games and in the process hasnotched 79 tackles, three interceptionsand seven passes defended.

The team made room forGiordano by releasing cornerback TyeHill. The former first round pick wasacquired by the team via trade in thepreseason last year, but struggled toget on the field and played in justeight games last season.

IN THE COMMUNITY … Offensive lineman Harvey Dahl

may be known for his fierce and physi-cal style on the field, but he was any-thing but that last week, when he readshort stories to students at TadmoreElementary School in Gainesville, Ga.

Running back Verron Hayes joinedthe fight against breast cancer, speakingat “The Pink Affair” at the AtlantaAthletic Club.

Bagriansky can be reached at [email protected]

ORE

MOR

ESCORE

MORE




Pitching begins to look dominant; Freeman joins Heyward as impressive youngster

Baseball wins slugfest at New Mexico State; spring football practice beginsWe knew the Panthers could score runs

after they scorched North CarolinaCentral for 103 runs over that four-gameseries a couple of weeks ago. Then, State fol-lowed that up with 30 runs in two games withUNC-Asheville.

The hot bats continued during a rareseries out west at New Mexico State lastweekend where they won two of the threegames. The Panthers took the first game 13-2, lost the middle game 12-11 and then thedam broke in the Sunday game with GeorgiaState winning in a 30-24 slugfest. In the winCarl Moniz, Bradley Logan and Joey Wood

each hit grand slams, which tied an NCAArecord. The Panthers collected a school-record 30 hits, surpassing the 29 the team hadagainst North Carolina Central. Georgia Statefinished the game with six home runs. “I amso proud of our team's effort today,” com-mented head coach Greg Frady. “Our teamnever gave up, even when we were down byeight runs, but continued to fight against avery good New Mexico State team. This wasa great series for our team and shows thecharacter of our players.”

Georgia State improved to 8-7 on theseason and has won eight of its last nine

games. Following a game on Wednesday atKennesaw State, the Panthers will head toClarksville, Tn, to take part in the Governor’sChallenge at Austin Peay over the weekend.

CAMP CURRY COMMENCES … Panther football begins spring practice

this week and according to Head Coach BillCurry, “You can have the right players, theright coaches, and the right systems, but ifyou don't nail down fundamentals in springpractice, then you can’t do it in the fallbecause you don’t have time. I’m talking

about footwork, stances, route running, readsfor the quarterback, along with the blockingand tackling.”… On the links, men's golf fin-ished 10th out of 15 teams and senior TomSherreard scored an 11th place finish at theSeminole Intercollegiate on Southwood GolfCourse in Tallahassee, Fla, last Saturday.Sherreard fired a final round 72 (1 over).

Dave Cohen is in his 27th season as the“Voice of Georgia State Basketball andBaseball on WRAS-FM (88.5) and works onthe football radio crew at Furman Universityin Greenville, S.C.

The Atlanta Braves starting pitching staffseems like it will once again be the best

in the National League. Derek Lowe wasforced from a recent start due to a blister onhis pitching foot. However, Lowe was sched-uled to pitch this past Monday and is stillexpected to open the season up for the Braveswhen Atlanta hosts the Chicago Cubs in lessthan three weeks. Tim Hudson, meanwhile,struck out six Blue Jays in four innings ofwork. Hudson did allow three runs (oneearned) in that outing but the strikeouts areencouraging as he will be starting his first fullseason since returning from Tommy John sur-gery. Jair Jurrjens was able to throw pain-freeand struck one batter out in two innings ofwork last week against the Pirates.

Meanwhile, Tommy Hanson has struck outsix batters in 4.1 innings of work, though hehas allowed four hits and three runs afterbeing nearly untouchable last spring training.Finally, Kenshin Kawakami is pitching wellaccording to Bobby Cox though in his laststart, Kawakami allowed eight hits and sixruns (just three earned) in 3.2 innings.

Brian McCann seems to be on the way tolocking up a fifth straight all-star berthdespite the fact that spring training games donot count. Through last Monday, McCannwas hitting .667 with eight hits in twelve at-bats. Against Houston last Sunday, McCannwent deep twice although after the game hetold the team’s website that he felt the hitterswere ahead of the pitchers because the pitch-ers do not have their best stuff yet.

YOUNG PLAYERS IMPRESS … Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman

continue to show that the future is bright forAtlanta’s middle of the order. In a game againstToronto, Freeman collected three hits anddrove in two runs as the first baseman may bethe prospect to watch next season in springtraining, just as Heyward is this season andHanson was last year. Heyward continued toamaze Braves fans by crushing two doubles inthe same game against the Blue Jays.

Troy Glaus’ run of eight straight hitsmoved his average up to .563 as the veteranfirst baseman finished last weekend havingrecorded nine hits in 16 at-bats. Glaus hasscored also seven runs which ties him withYunel Escobar for most on the team.

Last week the team was able to introducenewly signed shortstop Edward Salcedo, an 18-

year-old from the Dominican Republic. Salcedois expected to participate in extended springtraining before heading to Class A Rome, wherehe will likely spend the season. Salcedo wassigned to a $1.6 million deal and has been com-pared by some scouts to Hanley Ramirez.

Finally, folks have the opportunity tojump onboard with the McCann 16 HomeRun Challenge. McCann and his wife haveteamed up with the Rally Foundation forChildhood Cancer Research to help raiseawareness. The Foundation offers four levelsof sponsorship in the challenge with the pro-ceeds going to research grants and supporting40 projects in 23 hospitals nationwide,according to a release from Rally. McCannhas been a spokesperson for Rally since 2008.

Proctor can be reached [email protected].





AYSA Spring Season. Ongoing - North Park - Cogburn and Bethany - Alpharetta. Fees: If Alpharetta ResidentialProperty Tax IS NOT PAID at the primary residence of the player, then the Non-City Resident Fee must be paid. After Jan. 13, $10 late fee is charged.

GYMNASTICSGymnastics Classes at Gymnastics AcademyofAtlanta.

Ongoing - 3126 Cobb Parkway Kennesaw, Ga. For information call 770-975-8337 or visit www.gymnasticsacademyofatlanta.com.

Gymnastics Classes at Gwinnett Gymnastics Center Ongoing - 927 Killian Hill Road Lilburn, Ga. For information call 770-921-5630.

Atlanta School of Gymnastics in Lawrenceville. Ongoing. Classes for tots through teens. Cheerleadingclasses for ages 5 and older. For information call 770-277-9434.

The Little Gym of Snellville. Ongoing. Noncompetitive gymnastics and motor-skills development classes and camps. For ages 10 months-12 years. For information call 770-982-0901 or visit www.tlgsnellvillega.com.

RACINGSweet Repeats Consignment Sale. March 25-27 at

Atlanta Motor Speedway.

OFFICIATINGClub Sport, "Where Atlanta Comes To Play!" Flag

Football, Softball, Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball. Earn money officiating. Training provided. For more info email [email protected] or visit www.usclubsport.com.

9RCorp Sports Officials. Ongoing. Provider of sports officials for multiple sports including basketball, flagfootball, & softball. Looking for additional officials. For information call Dennis Reagan at 404-213-0588 or email [email protected].

Georgia Lacrosse Officials Association. Needs boys yo uth and High School officials for 2010 season. Games are played Spring, Summer, and Fall. Great way to earn extra money and get some fun aerobicexercise. For more information, please visit www.GALAXREF.com or email [email protected].

ATLANTA SPORTS COUNCILChick-Fil-A Bowl. Dec. 31, 2010. Georgia Dome. For

tickets, call 404-444-4444.To reach the Atlanta Sports Council call 404-586-8510 or visit www.atlantasportscouncil.com.

MISC.Suwanee Sports Academy. Pre-K Athletics for 2, 3 and 4

year-olds introduces the basic skills needed to playbasketball, soccer, and t-ball. Also, there is a uniqueafter school program that provides students with a weekly sports curriculum along with the after schoolclassroom setting. For more information, call 770-614-6686 or visit www.ssaports.com.

Club Sport. Club Sport opens registration for summer leagues on May 1st with league play beginning in June. Club Sport is Atlanta's recreational sports and social group with over 10,000 participants each year on 1200 teams in 120 leagues. Each season Club Sport offers leagues in flag football, softball, soccer, sand and indoorvolleyball, basketball and more. Club Sport is where Atlanta comes to play! For more information about Club Sport, upcoming events, photos or interviews with the owner, please contact Rich Alvarez at 678-994-0793 ext. 818 or visit www.usclubsport.com.

GOkickball "Atlanta's Premier Social Experience". Providingsocial, co-ed adult kickball leagues throughout metro-Atlanta centered around having a good time, meeting new people, and playing recreational games of kickball at local parks. Registration is open now for spring season. Join the fun! For more information and to register, go to www.gokickball.com/atlanta. Special Score Atlanta 15%off discount code: "Score15".

Frazier Cycling. A freeseminar for prospective juniors, ages 9-18 and their families. Thursday, March 18th from7:30to 9:00 p.m. at REI Atlanta,1800 Northeast Expressway NE,Atlanta, GA 30329. Meet members ofthe Frazier Cycling Juniors team, their families and coaches. Learn how they train, race and win National championships through a year-round program thatpromotes fun & fitness. Info: [email protected] or 770-315-0675.

CAMPSNike Basketball Camps. Camps located in Snellville,

Roswell, Kennesaw, Oxford and 0894-4297 to find out which dates suit your campers best.

Club Sport, "Where Atlanta Comes To Play!"Registration Ongoing for Sand & Indoor Leagues and Tournaments League games played every day and night at the Brookhaven Boys and Girls Club. For more info or to register visit http://www.usclubsport.com/

Harlem Legends. The Harlem Legends have scheduledtheir 2009 Shoot for the Stars Basketball & PhysicalFitness Camps. The "Shoot for the Stars Youth Basketball Camps and Clinics" are a unique form oflearning experiences geared towards young basketball players of all skill levels. There are two GwinnettCounty camps this year. Please visit our website (www.harlemlegends.com) or call 404-837-6719 for additional camps.

VOLLEYBALLGwinnett Sports Center. Registration ongoing. For

information call Jerry Robison at 678-491-0203 or visit www.gscfun.com.

Suwanee Sports Academy. Ongoing. Volleyball trainingand development for boys and girls grades 3-12. VolleySkills, VolleyStars, VolleyTraining, and OnCourt Player Development, a year-round comprehensive player development program. For more information, contact Mary Carnell at 770-614-6686x108 or visit www.ssasports.com.

SWIMMING & DIVINGSwimming lessons. Ongoing - Alpharetta City Pool -

Alpharetta, Ga. - 1825 Old Milton Parkway. For information call 678-297-6107.

Gwinnett Aquatics. Ongoing - 2800 Quinberry Drive and Bethany Church Road. For ages 5-18. Swim team and lessons available. For information call 770-972-4055.

Senior Water-Exercise class. Ongoing - Mountain Parkpool - Lilburn, Ga. Fees: $1 per class. For informationcall 770-546-4650. 10-10:50 AM.

SwimAtlanta Sugarloaf at Kid’s Village. Ongoing. Swimteam, lessons, lap swimming, master’s program, water aerobics and scuba available. For informationcall 678-442-7946.

YOUTH REGISTRATIONSoccer-Soccer Alley. Ongoing - 3265 Roswell Road-

Atlanta. For information call 404-266-0762 or visit www.starsoccerclub.com.

Tucker Youth Soccer. Ongoing - 2803 Henderson RoadTucker, Ga. For information call 770-414-0538 or visit www.tysa.com.

Track and Field - Peachtree City Flash Youth Track Team registration. Ongoing - Riley Field -Peachtree City, Ga. For ages 6-14. For information call 770-631-3552 or email [email protected].

Gymnastics - Georgia Gymnastics Academy. Ongoing. For registration in Lawrenceville call 770-962-5867; in Suwanee call 770-945-3424.

Gym Elite. Ongoing. Registration for ages 2 and older. Cheerleading for ages 6 and older. For information call 770-242-0678.

Youth Soccer Training. Ongoing. Start age 3 and up. For information, call 678-714-7454 or e-mail [email protected]. www.atlantasilverbacks.com/indoor.

Corpus Christi Youth Basketball League Registration is now underway for our 29th season! Boys and girls ages 5 through 14, any skill level, are welcome. Cost: $90 per child/$85 for siblings. Fee includes uniforms, field trips, skills clinics, 9 games and more! Register while space is still available Saturdays October 11 & 18, 2008, 10 AM to 12 PM. Location: Corpus Christi Church Sports Arena, 600 Mountain View Drive, Stone Mountain, GA 30083. For info, call 770-469-0395, email [email protected] or visit the league’s website (www.ccybl.net).

SOFTBALLClub Sport, "Where Atlanta Comes To Play!" Registration

Ongoing for Men's & Coed Leagues League games played at multiple locations throughout the Metro Area. For more info or to register visit www.usclubsport.com

Arena Indoor Football. Ongoing. Youth and Adult Leagues. Youth 7 vs. 7; Adult 6 vs. 6. For information, call 678-714-7454 or e-mail [email protected]. www.atlantasilverbacks.com/indoor.

Capitol City Officials Association. CCOA is accepting ongoing registration for the upcoming GHSA High School season in football. We hold weekly training meetings. For more information, contact Irvin Seabrook at 404-957-3331 or e-mail [email protected].

HOCKEYThrashers. March 20 vs. Philadelphia 7 PM. March 21

at Philadelphia 7 PM. March 23 vs. Boston 7 PM. March 25 vs. Toronto 7 PM. March 27 at Carolina 7 PM. March 29 vs. Carolina 7 PM. March 30 at Toronto 7 PM. April 1 at Washington 7 PM.

Gladiators. March 20 vs. Trenton 7:05 PM. March 21 vs. Trenton 4:05 PM. March 24 vs. Reading 7:05 PM. March 27 vs. Florida 7:05 PM. March 28 vs. Florida 4:05 PM. March 30 at Charlotte 7 PM. March 31 vs. South Carolina 7:05 PM.

SOCCERChallenged Soccer. Ongoing. For mentally and physi

cally disabled youngsters. For information call Ken Higgins at 770-985-0434.

Hall of Fame soccer clinics. Ongoing on Fridays Clarkston Community Center. For under-6 through under-12 players. Fees: Free. For information call 404-508-1050 or visit www.clarkstoncommunitycenter.org. 5:30-7 PM.

Competitive Amateur Soccer in Atlanta For more information, visit www.majesticsoccer.com.

TENNISTechnique Clinics. Ongoing - Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. Tuesdays (serve/volley) and Saturdays (forehand/back

hand). Fees: $18. For information call 404-790-4772 or email [email protected]. 2 PM on Saturdays, 6:30PM on Tuesdays.

Tennis camps for kids. Ongoing weekly. Lost MountainTennis Center. For information call 770-528-8525.

LACROSSELacrosse. Ongoing. Registration for 1st-8th grades. For

information call 404-216-5870, email [email protected] or visit www.bagatawaylacrosse.com.

Double Stixx Lacrosse. Ongoing - Leagues, Travel Teams and Tournaments for youth, high school and adult’s boys and girls. More information about the best lacrosse programs in Georgia can be found at www.doblestixxlacrosse.com or by contacting Chris Smith at [email protected] or 404-550-5322.

RUNNINGPublix Run Wild 5K & Kids Run. Mar. 20. Atlanta,

Grant Park, 8:00 AM.Dirty Spokes (Race #1) - Runnin The Rocks Trail

Running Race 10K. Mar. 20. Conyers.3rd Annual DAWG Trot 5K Run/Walk. Mar. 20.

Athens, 7:30 AM. 706-769-6593.20th Annual Brave Run 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run. Mar.

20. Watkinsville, 8:00 AM. 706-769-6593.Inaugural Don't Run With Scissors 5K/Mile. Mar.

20. Valdosta, 8:00 AM. 229-333-8530.Leprechaun Road Race 5K/10K & Mile. Mar. 20.

Dublin, 8:00 AM. 478-274-3990.4th Annual Hope for a Cure 5K Run/Walk. Mar. 20.

Winder, 10:00 AM. 706-769-6593.Fallen Officer 5K. Mar. 20. Powder Springs, 8:00

AM. 678-332-7693.Sweetheart Run for Sight 5K & 12K. Mar. 20.

Centerville, 8 AM. 478-972-2609.Wild Chicken Run 5K & Mile. Mar. 20. Fitzgerald,

8 AM. 229-426-2146.Downtown Dash for Diabetes 5K. Mar. 20. Atlanta,

Hurt Park, 8:30 AM. 404-214-0167.Spirit Creek Sprint 5K. Mar. 20. Hephzibah, 9:00

AM. 706-790-2351.Eagle Mountain Run 5K/1M. Mar. 20. Woodstock,

8:00 AM. 770-516-3677.March for Meals 5K/Mile. Mar. 20. Fayetteville, 8:00

AM. 770-461-0813.Gateway Bank & Trust CIS 11th Annual 5K Run.

Mar. 20. Ringgold, 8:00 AM. 706-965-1508.Farmers Market Spring Fling 5K. Mar. 20. Forest

Park, 8:00 AM. 404-366-8767.

BASKETBALLHawks. March 19 vs. Charlotte 7:30 PM. March 21 vs.

San Antonio 8 PM. March 22 at Milwaukee 8 PM. March 24 vs. Orlando 7 PM. March 26 at Philadelphia7 PM. March 28 vs. Indiana 3:30 PM. March 31 vs. Los Angeles Lakers 7 PM.

Club Sport, "Where Atlanta Comes To Play!" Registration Ongoing - Men's League plays on Sunday evenings at the Brookhaven Boys & Girls Club. For more info or to register visit www.usclubsport.com

Suwanee Sports Academy. Ongoing. Basketball training and development for boy and girls grades K-12.Rising Stars, Future Stars, Suwanee Basketball League, On Court Player Development, nationally-recognized year-round comprehensive player development program. For more information contact Mike Brown at 678-541-0176 or visit www.ssasports.com.

Mark Price Shooting Lab. Ongoing: Personalized professional shooting instruction through one-on-one coaching and state-of-the-art technology at Suwanee Sports Academy. For more information, contact Mike Brown at 678-541-0176 or visit www.ssasports.com.

Open Recreational Basketball. GSL -- Georgia Sports Leagues. Georgia’s Best Sports Leagues. Registration ongoing. We offer “Top Gun,” “B,” “C” and Co-Ed styles of play around Atlanta. We play ALL year round. For more information please contact (678)799-0159 or email [email protected]. Visit www.georgiasportsleagues.org.

Roundtable Fundamental Basketball Camp Boys and Girls.Rising 6th-10th Graders (Current 5th-9th Graders) June7-11. 9am-2pm. St. Francis High School, Alpharetta. Contact Coach Huff [email protected].

BASEBALLBraves. (Preseason). March 19 vs. Detroit 6:05 PM.

March 20 at Toronto 1:05 PM. March 21 vs. St. Louis 1:05 PM. March 23 at New York Mets 1:10 PM. March 24 vs. Philadelphia 1:05 PM. March 25 at Pittsburgh 1:05 PM. March 26 vs. Detroit 1:05 PM. March 27 vs. Washington 1:05 PM. March 28 at Washington 1:05 PM. March 29 at Philadelphia 1:05 PM. March 30 vs. New York Yankees 1:05 PM. March 31 vs. Houston 1:05 PM. April 1 at Detroit 1:05 PM. (Regular season). April 5 vs. Chicago Cubs 4:10 PM.

Prospect Watch. Ongoing - Buckhead. Baseball pitchingand hitting lessons by a former college and minor league coach. For information call 404-869-7966 or visit www.eteamz.com/tryouts.

Adult Baseball League Metro Atlanta. Ongoing. MSBL 18+, 28+, 38+, and 48+. Sunday League contactinfo is 770.785.2588, e-mail [email protected] 18+ Saturday League contact info is 770-436-8114, e-mail [email protected]. MSBL 18+ Midweek Wood bat league contact info is 770-436-8114, e-mail [email protected]. MSBL 18+Fall League contact info is 770-436-8114, e-mail [email protected]. For more information about our Atlanta Adult Baseball League,please visit our website at www.AtlantaMSBL.com.

TNT Sports. Ongoing. Baseball pitching and hitting lessons by Rob Blair, former college coach, Snellville. To set up a free pitching or hitting analysis call 678-344-5876.

Jack City Baseball. Ongoing. Baseball pitching and hitting. Instruction with former pro Keith Whitner. 18-ylooking for high school players. The new location isinside Velocity Sports in North Gwinnett. For more information call 770-633-0948 or visit jackcity.net.

FOOTBALLCollins Hill Athletic Association. Ongoing. Accepting

applications for qualified coaches in all age groups.For information email Craig Deneau at [email protected]

Grayson Athletic Association. Ongoing. Football coaches needed for eighth grade and all age groups.For information call Duane Davis at 678-300-0282 or visit www.gaasports.org.

Flag Football. GSL -- Georgia Sports Leagues. Georgia’sLargest Flag League. Registration ongoing. We offer7-Man, 8-man, Youth and Co-Ed styles of play around Atlanta. We play ALL year round. For information please contact (678)799-0159 or email [email protected]. Visit www.georgiasportsleagues.org.

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Jayhawks to take home the hardware; upsets to watch for in the tourney

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It’s once again that time of year where basket-ball fans fill out their brackets in anticipation

of March Madness, but the NCAA tournamentbracket holds more than just entertainmentvalue. This year, the selection committee hasprovided a decided advantage to some and aconsiderably tougher road to others while cre-ating one of the most unbalanced fields ever.

For much of the season, Kansas playedlike the best team in the nation, stormingthrough Big 12 play and winning both the reg-ular season and tournament titles. They fin-ished 29-2 and earned the No. 1 overall seed inthe NCAA Tournament, meaning Kansas theo-retically should have the easiest road to theFinal Four, right? Wrong—quite the opposite,in fact. The Jayhawks got stuck in a MidwestRegion that features perhaps the best No. 2seed in Ohio State, the best and most battle-tested No. 3 seed in Georgetown, a rugged No.4 and No. 5 seed combo in Maryland andMichigan State, and a potential second roundmatchup against MVC champ Northern Iowa,a lockdown defensive squad. Kansas has theNBA talent, coaching and confidence toemerge from such a meat grinder, but BillSelf’s squad can afford no letdowns.

DUKE’S DELICIOUS DRAW …On the other side of the bracket, in the

South Region, Duke faces a much lessdaunting gauntlet to make it all the way toIndianapolis. The Blue Devils f inishedstrong in winning the ACC Tournament andboast an impressive resumé (No 3 in theRPI) but still just snuck their way in to a No.1 seed ahead of Ohio State and WestVirginia. Somehow, at least on paper, Duke

drew the weakest of all four regions. Villanova, the No. 2 seed in the region,

have lost five of their last seven games,including a Big East tourney loss toMarquette. Baylor closed strong and boasts atough guard-forward tandem in LaceDariusDunn and Ekpe Udoh, but the Bears havevery little NCAA tournament experience andare not good defensively. After RobbieHummel’s injury, Purdue seems the least dan-gerous of all the No. 4 seeds.

FINAL FOUR PICKS …Unfortunately, the disparity between

those two regions could very well hurt thequality of games across the board. I’m stillamazed that the committee failed to recognizehow weak the South Region really is and thatit didn’t spread out several of those strongteams from the Midwest to enhance the overallbalance of the bracket. It’s easy to pictureCoach K snickering quietly at his luck (and byno means am I a typical Duke hater) and BillSelf not sleeping well for the next few days.

As for my picks, I am picking Kansas tofind a way to survive the Midwest while theJayhawks’ Sunflower State rival Kansas Stateshould get through the West by beating abanged-up Syracuse squad in the regionalfinal. I have West Virginia taking down JohnWall and Kentucky in the East Region finaland Duke emerging from the weak SouthRegion. Kansas has beaten Kansas State threetimes already this season (twice in the regularseason and once in the Big 12 Tournamentfinal) and will make it four in one NationalSemifinal, while Bob Huggins’ Mountaineerswill prove too rugged for Duke. For the second

time in three years, the Kansas Jayhawks willcall themselves “National Champions.”

IVY UPSET SPECIAL ...Of course, a bracket would not be com-

plete without gutsy (read: ill-fated) upsetpicks. Watch out for Cornell, a No. 12 seedthat deserved to be an eight or a nine and ateam that plays as well together as anyone inthe country. The Big Red nearly endedKansas’s now 59-game winning streak inLawrence earlier this year. UTEP’s impressivefront line features Louisville transfer DerrickCaracter, meaning the Miners could give anundersized Butler squad trouble in the firstround. Notre Dame played a solid stretch ofbasketball down the stretch but are probablyover-seeded as a No. 6 seed, so an upset byNo. 11 seed Old Dominion is not out of therealm of possibility. Picking Siena overRobbie Hummel-less Purdue has been all therage, but the Saints have no wins over RPItop-50 teams and Purdue still can defend at anelite level. I thought long and hard about pick-ing Southern Conference champ Wofford overWisconsin in the first round. As much as Iwould love to see the Terriers win in their firstNCAA tournament appearance, the factremains that Bo Ryan’s Badgers always areready to play, no matter the setting.

Every year, without fail, my bracketseems to derail somewhere around the EliteEight. Each time, I tell myself that next yearwill be the one where I nail every pick. Maybe,just maybe, this will be the year.

Lander can be reached at [email protected].

Both hoops teams in tourney; baseball on roll Lady Dogs advance to NCAAs; baseball reboundsThe Georgia Tech men’s basketball team

did not quite pull off an improbable ACCTournament title last week in Greensboro,NC, but it did enough to secure a berth in theNCAA Tournament.

Tech survived a trio of thrillers beforefalling to Duke 65-61 in a championshipgame that also came down to the final sec-onds. Along the way, the Yellow Jacketsedged North Carolina 62-58, Maryland 69-64, and NC State 57-54.

Derrick Favors was named to the ACCAll-Tournament First Team as a result of fourdominant performances. The freshman had18 points, nine rebounds, and five blocksagainst UNC, 11 points and 11 boards versusMaryland, 17 and eight at the expense of NCState, and finally 22 and 11 against Duke.

“It says a lot about what these guys arecapable of doing,” head coach Paul Hewittsaid of his team after the loss. “It says a lotabout them being really focused, especiallyover these last few days.”

Georgia Tech’s Sunday afternoonimproved dramatically hours later when theteam learned it reached the NCAATournament as a No. 10 seed in the Midwestbracket. The Jackets opened with OklahomaState on Friday evening in Milwaukee, butresults were not available at press time.Hewitt is making his fifth NCAATournament appearance with the YellowJackets, who are in the Big Dance for the firsttime since 2007.

WOMEN ALSO NCAA-BOUND …The Tech women earned a fourth consec-

utive trip to the NCAA Tournament thanks toanother stellar season. After compiling a 23-9record, the Yellow Jackets earned a best-everNo. 6 seed and they are set for a first-round

matchup against Arkansas-Little Rock onSunday night. Part of the Kansas CityRegional, Tech will play its first (and a poten-tial second) game in Norman, OK.“I’m really excited,” said head coachMaChelle Joseph. “We just continue to makehistory. We’re in uncharted waters.” Josephadded that the team’s goal all year has been toreach the Sweet 16, but she insisted, “Wecan’t overlook Arkansas-Little Rock with arecord of 27-3. That’s a pretty special team.”

If the Jackets get past their 11th-seededopponents, they will face either No. 3Oklahoma or No. 14 South Dakota State.Tech fell to Oklahoma in the second round oflast year’s NCAA Tournament.

BASEBALL STILL ON FIRE …Georgia Tech’s baseball team maintained

its incredible early-season form with a three-game sweep of Wake Forest last weekend atRuss Chandler Stadium. The Yellow Jacketsearned victories of 9-1, 15-8, and 6-5 as theyimproved to 13-1 for their 2010 campaign.

Junior starter Deck McGuire tossed acomplete game in the opener, striking out eightDemon Deacons while allowing only three hitsand one run in nine innings. Matt Skole andChase Burnette each had three RBIs in theSaturday afternoon rout before Tony Plagmanbelted a home and drove in three as Techclipped Wake Forest by one run on Sunday.

“It’s great to win,” assured head coachDanny Hall. “But momentum can be veryfleeting at times.”

The Jackets, ranked No. 3 by BaseballAmerican, hosted Georgia on Tuesday butresults were not available at press time. They areplaying at ACC rival Maryland this weekend.

Dimon can be reached [email protected].

The Bulldog men’s basketball team sawtheir season come to an end in the SEC

Tournament after a 78-66 loss to Vanderbilt.Mark Fox’s squad had advanced to the secondround of the tourney by defeating Arkansas77-64 in the opener.

In the first round matchup with theHogs, Georgia held a 40-32 halftime lead onthe strength of a 14-6 lead out of the gates.The Dawgs held on down the stretch and putthe game out of reach with a game-ending 10-3 run which started at the 4:48 mark.

First team All-SEC forward TreyThompkins led UGA with 23 points and 14rebounds while Travis Leslie ended a coldstretch with 21 points and six boards.

Against Vandy, Thompkins was as inef-fective as he has been all year. The sopho-more from Lithonia was held to just 13 pointson 6-15 shooting, well below his season aver-age of almost 18 per game.

However, Leslie had a career-game forthe Dawgs scoring 34 points, which easilysurpassed his previous high of 23 points.

Unfortunately, it was not enough for theBulldogs as the Commodores shot a remark-able 9-18 from the 3-point line compared toGeorgia’s paltry 3-16. John Jenkins was themain culprit scoring a career-best 25 pointson 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Georgia finished the year with a 14-17overall record and was 5-11 in the SEC, bothimprovements from 2008-2009. The Dawgswent 0-11 on the road as compared to 2-2 atneutral sites and 12-6 in the friendly confinesof Stegeman Coliseum.

LANDERS’ LADIES PLAY ON …Andy Landers’ women’s basketball team

received an invite to the NCAA tournament onMonday for the 27th time in 29 years of play-

ing the sport. Ironically, the Lady Dogs playedtheir first NCAA tourney game at the samelocation they will play in this time- Tempe, Az.

The No. 23-ranked Lady Dogs wereassigned a No. 5 seed and will face No. 12seed Tulane in the first round of the tourna-ment. If UGA wins, they will face eitherfourth-seeded Oklahoma State or No. 13 seedTennessee-Chattanooga in the second round.Landers’ squad limps into the tournamentafter ending the season on a 7-8 slide afterstarting the season a school-best 16-0.

Recently, Georgia was eliminated fromthe SEC Tournament by Mississippi State inthe second round. The “other” Lady Bulldogsdefeated UGA 67-52 in Duluth, where theconference tourney was being held. Georgialost for the first time after leading at the halfas MSU used a 15-4 second half run to takethe lead. Meredith Robinson led the LadyDogs with 15 points.

DIAMOND DAWGS BACK ON TRACK …The baseball squad has recovered after los-

ing four-straight games last week by winningtwo of three over the weekend against Siena.

David Perno’s crew was led in the firstgame by Peter Verdin who had two homers inthe 9-3 victory. On Saturday in Game 2,Georgia won a 12-7 affair on the strength oftwo dingers by first baseman RobertShipman. Justin Earls gained the win inrelief, throwing 2.2 innings and giving upthree earned runs. Unfortunately for theBulldogs, Siena won the third game 10-9 toavert the sweep.

The Diamond Dawgs will host Auburnthis weekend in the SEC opening series forboth clubs.

Black can be reached at [email protected].



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