The weekend winter snow storm that threatened to cover much of the south with snow and ice this weekend – yet never really materialized – caused all Friday and Saturday after school activities, games and meets to be cancelled or rescheduled.
That means Newton’s back-to-back of area rivals will be split up over the next couple of weeks. The Eastside-Newton Part Two showdown will happen at Newton on Wednesday, starting with girls action at 5:30 p.m. and the boys tipping off at 7 p.m.
Newton’s boys and girls swept the first meeting with their cross county rivals, with the Lady Rams defeating the Lady Eagles 68-30 and the No. 1 ranked boys’ squad besting Eastside 74-51.
This time both the Newton and Eastside boys teams will come into the game boasting higher rankings than their first meeting. After a big holiday tournament season, Newton takes the top spot in the latest Class AAAAAAA rankings. The Rams are also considered the No. 1 ranked team in Georgia, regardless of classification, according to maxpreps.com.
Meanwhile, Eastside (9-4) checks in at No. 5 in the Class AAAA rankings, and are being led by senior Keiodre Perry who’s averaging 22.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and four assists per game. Before traveling to Newton, though, Eastside will host region foe Salem on Tuesday night with a 7:30 p.m. tip time. The girls will begin at 6 p.m.
After Salem and Newton, Eastside will host Druid Hills on Saturday Jan. 13.
Alcovy looking for momentum
Both the Alcovy boys and girls teams will be looking to get back on the winning side of things once play resumes this week. Both teams will travel to Greenbrier Tuesday for region contests, with the girls tipping off at 6 p.m. and boys following at 7:30 p.m.
The Lady Tigers (3-7) split their last two games, winning 60-34 against South Atlanta and dropping a 68-41 decision to Heritage-Conyers.
Freshman Serai Johnson and senior Tamia Brown continue their solid play for coach Justin Hunter, with Johnson and Brown scoring 13 and 11 points respectively in the Heritage loss.
Meanwhile, the boys will look to break a three-game skid which included losses to Northgate, Wilkinson County and Heritage-Conyers.
Hunter said the teams’ games against Lakeside and Decatur will be rescheduled for a later date yet to be determined.
Newton’s Isaiah Miller gets first D-1 offer
It looks like Division I basketball programs are starting to take notice of Newton’s Isaiah Miller.
The 6-foot-1 combo guard received his first Division I offer Monday from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. According to Newton boys basketball coach Rick Rasmussen, Miller is also getting strong interest from East Carolina and Jacksonville University, among others, to go along with a slew of top junior college offers.
Miller has burst onto the recruiting scene this year, thanks to his part as a key cog in top-ranked Newton’s 13-0 start to the 2016-17 season. Miller’s latest offer and interest has come, perhaps, in part, because of an impressive showing last week at the Farm Bureau Insurance Classic in Spartanburg, SC.
Newton came away with the tournament’s championship after defeating high school hoops sensation Zion Williamson and his hometown Spartanburg Day squad.
Although Miller didn’t get named to the all-tournament team, he regularly wowed the crowds with his highlight reel style dunks and offensive play — something that Newton fans have grown accustomed to since Miller transferred to the school from Eastside.
Currently Miller’s scoring at an 18.9 points-per-game clip. He’s also averaging 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 steals and two assists while shooting 60 percent from the field.
After Newton’s showing at the FBI Classic, it has held fast to its No. 1 maxpreps.com ranking, while climbing to No. 13 nationally.
