Local teams begin hunt for state basketball title

With region play out of the way, an even bigger goal awaits a cluster of local basketball teams.

The chase for a state championship gets underway within the GHSA ranks on Friday and Saturday with the first round of the state tournament, and teams from Middle Georgia will be eager to make a deep run into the postseason.

Region tournaments have set the brackets in all classifications except for 1A Private and Public, which will be set later this week with the release of the final power ratings.

By virtue of Saturday's region championship win against Harris County 76-54, Warner Robins has earned home court advantage through the first three rounds of the state tournament. The Demons host Ware County to begin the postseason. Also in Houston County, Northside opens the playoffs at Brunswick.

Central will also enjoy home-court advantage through the first three rounds should the Chargers continue winning, an advantage earned by Friday's 59-56 win against Westside for the region title. Central opens the playoffs against Beach with Westside hosting Islands at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Mary Persons, which has three of its four losses to Upson Lee, will be out for redemption in the first round against Carver of Columbus.

Northeast is one of four area teams with both its boys and girls in the state tournament. Both will be on the road to start the state tournament with the boys at Glenn Hills and girls at Laney.

The others with both teams in the tournament are Northside, whose girls travel to Glynn Academy in the first round, Perry, which goes to Americus-Sumter and Central, whose girls host Jenkins of Savannah.

Peach County's girls, who edged Central 37-36 in the region title game, host Islands to start the postseason at 6 p.m. on Friday with Rutland headed to Johnson of Savannah.

This story was originally published February 11, 2018 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Local teams begin hunt for state basketball title."