High school basketball teams have advanced to the postseason. Briarwood’s squads cleared the region tournament last week and have advanced to the state tournament. Thomson High School’s teams are in region playoff this week, at Josey.
Briarwood Academy’s boys and girls teams advanced to the Georgia Independent School Association playoffs with their placements Friday at the region tournament at Piedmont Academy in Monticello.
The Lady Bucs were defeated by the Lady Gators of Gatewood in the region championship, finishing second in the region.
The girls won their way into the championship round with a 48-29 Thursday night victory over Brentwood. That followed a Tuesday night victory over Covenant Academy.
“We played great,” coach Clayton Parish said of the Thursday victory. He said this was Briarwood’s third victory over the Sandersville school this year. “We had beaten them by two points the first time and four points the second game, so for us to beat them by 19 points just meant that everything came together for us.”
“We played great defensively,” he said. “With that win last night you get to play for a championship, and it helps your seeding in the state playoffs.”
The Runnin’ Bugs defeated Covenant in the consolation game, good for a third-place finish in the region. Coach Bo Fleming’s squad fell into the bottom bracket by losing 60-58 on Thursday, to Gatewood Academy. Tyler Daniel led the Bucs with 23 points, followed by Spencer Hadden with 12, Ryan Pritchett with nine and Dalton Reese with eight. On Wednesday night, the boys survived a first-round scare for a 67-64 overtime victory over Brentwood Academy of Sandersville.
The girls will play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Middle Georgia College in Cochran, in the first round of the GISA Class AA state playoffs, facing Harvester Christian.
The Runnin’ Bucs will play at 4 p.m. Thursday, against LaGrange, at Cochran, in the first round of the state playoffs.
Final-round play begins Feb. 23.
Thomson High School’s boys begin the Georgia High School Association Region 3-AAA tournament at 8:30 p.m. tonight, facing Hephzibah at Josey. The winner advances to play Butler at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Thomson’s girls won a first-round bye. They will play at Josey at 4 p.m. Thursday, facing the winner of Tuesday’s game between Harlem and Hephzibah. The winner of that game will play again at 4 p.m. Friday.
The boys consolation game will be played at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, with the championship game at 8:30. The girls consolation game will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the championship game at 7.
First-round play in the state basketball tournament begins Feb. 24.
