UPDATED:
Wheeler held off Newton 61-56 Saturday for its 10th state title.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
The Wheeler boys basketball team travels to Macon for a Saturday date in the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state championship game.
The Wildcats (28-3) will be playing Newton at 7:30 p.m. at the Macon Coliseum, in pursuit of the school’s 10th state title and their fourth in the last six years.
A livestream of the game will be shown on Georgia Public Broadcasting at this link.
Only five other schools in Georgia history have won 10 state titles, and Wheeler’s dynasty stretches back more than 30 years.
It was in 1994 that Wheeler won its first state title, with future college star Shareef Abdur-Rahim. That was under coach Doug Lipscomb, whose tenure set off a long line of Wildcat standouts who went on to star in college and professional basketball.
Coach Larry Thompson has three titles at Wheeler under his belt, and has quickly rebuilt after the 2023 state title led by guard Isaiah Collier, now playing with the NBA’s Utah Jazz.
Senior forward Tylis Jordan, who will be attending the University of Mississippi, leads this Wheeler team, which has won 20 games in a row.
Wheeler defeated Grayson in the semifinals last weekend. The Class 6A title game almost became an all-Cobb County affair, but Newton (21-9) held off Pebblebrook in the other semifinal.
The Walton boys team reached the Class 6A quarterfinals, equalling the Raiders’ best finish in the school history. In Class 5A, the Sprayberry boys reached the second round, and in Class 4A, the Kell boys, a state champion in 2024, were eliminated in the first round.
In the GHSA’s private school classification, the Mt. Bethel Christian Academy boys reached the second round, as did The Walker School boys.
In the girls state tournament, the Lassiter reached the second round in the Class 5A tournament, and the Kell girls did the same in the Class 4A tournament. The Mt. Bethel Christian and The Walker School girls were eliminated in the first round of the private school tournament.
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