High school basketball teams have advanced to the postseason. Briarwood’s squads cleared the region tournament and have advanced to state. 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 victory over Brentwood. That followed a Tuesday win
over Covenant Academy.
“We played great,” coach Clayton Parish said of Thursday. This was Briarwood’s third win 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,” he said.
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. On Wednesday, the boys survived a first-round scare for a 67-64 overtime victory over Brentwood Academy.
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 began the Georgia High School Association Region 3-AAA tournament Monday at Josey, defeating Hephzibah, 54-44. Thomson advanced to play Butler at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Thomson’s girls won a first-round bye. They play at Josey at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, facing the winner of Tuesday’s Harlem-Hephzibah game. The winner will play at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17.
The boys consolation game will be at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, with the championship game at 8:30. The girls consolation game will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, with the championship game at 7.
First-round play in the state basketball tournament begins Feb. 24.
