2022 GHSA Bracket Visits – 1st Round

ATLANTA, GA – Dropped in on 2 first-round games this week, both within the city limits of Atlanta, catching A-Private and 5A action to get coverage rolling.

By: Keith Agran

A-Private 1st Round

GALLOWAY 59, WALKER 57

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Anthony Arrington (40 pts)

SCOTS NOTES: Another incredible display by the shockingly still available 6-2 Arrington, as he was literally all of the Scots offense for a period in the first half before his mates got on board. Walker was active defensively in a variety of zones to combat Arrington, but even with perhaps an overall athletic advantage over the home team, the Wolverines were unable to slow the versatile and creative offensive genius that has frankly been Arrington over his whole career.

WOLVERINES NOTES: One of the two terrific Wolverine sophomores, Ricky McKenzie (21 pts), had a good look at a tying bucket in the final seconds, but his floater just rimmed out and Galloway secured the rebound to seal it. Still, McKenzie and CJ Brown are seriously hot-ticket items wherever they’re playing in the near and far future, two highly skilled guards with few identifiable weaknesses and ceilings that extend well into the stratosphere.

NEXT FOR GALLOWAY: home vs Deerfield Windsor Saturday at 6 pm

5A 1st Round

WALNUT GROVE 50, MIDTOWN 47

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Tyler Jewell (12 pts, GW-3 pointer)

WARRIORS NOTES: Jewell grabs POG honors based on his monster-clutch 3 with 15 secs left that turned a one-point deficit into a two-point lead, he added a late FT to make the final margin, but the sophomore was also solid in the 2nd half as a whole getting 9 of his 12 over the last 16 minutes. He is one-half of one of the area’s best young backcourts with exciting freshman PG Marcus Smith. Senior forward Shawn Walker did his normal hard-hat work for the Warriors, leading all game scorers with 17.

KNIGHTS NOTES: The excellent career of senior Autrey Barnes ended Wednesday, as he and his Knight teammates didn’t go out without putting up a heck of a fight. The 6-5 available wing led his crew with 14 points on the night, and as always with Midtown I was impressed with the fight in support of Barnes, from the likes of a pair of juniors in particular, 6-4 guard Dylan Gustafson and 6-4 forward Terez Wilkins. A pair to build around for ’22-23 for sure.

NEXT FOR WALNUT GROVE: visits #1 Eagle’s Landing Friday at 7 pm

Keith Agran has lived in Georgia since 2011 and joined OTR as a National Evaluator in 2021. He previously scouted for Prep Hoops dating back to 2019 and has both a championship-coaching background on the HS-level and daily newspaper writing experience, both from New Jersey. You can reach him at keithagran1@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @BracketSage.