4 teams finish No. 1 for first time

Wheeler, Pace Academy, Westside-augusta and Wilkinson County added to their many boys basketball state titles last week, while Alexander, Kell, Sandy Creek and King’s Ridge Christian won championships for the first time. Each finished No. 1 in the final rankings.

Wheeler won Class 7A with a 78-58 victory over Cherokee in the final GHSA championship game Saturday night at the Macon Coliseum.

Wheeler guard Isaiah Collier, who has won the Naismith and the Morgan Wootten national boys player of the year awards, scored 22 points in his final Georgia high school game.

The title was the Marietta school’s ninth overall. It was coach Larry Thompson’s fifth state title, third at Wheeler. He won two at Greenforest Christian.

Pace Academy, a Buckhead private school, won Class 4A with a 66-54 victory over Fayette County. Pace has won five state titles, all since 2016. It was the eighth state title for coach Sharman White, third at Pace. His eight titles rank fifth in history among GHSA boys coaches.

Westside-augusta of Class 2A was the lone boys repeat winner after beating Providence Christian 89-81 in the only overtime final. It was Westside’s third championship overall.

Wilkinson County of Class A Division II won its 11th championship and beat Charlton County 40-36 in the final. Wilkinson’s state championship total is the most of any boys program since World War II.

Alexander, playing in its first state final, defeated Lee County 64-42 in Class 6A and became the first Douglas County school to win a basketball championship since 1961, when R.L. Cousins’ boys were two-time Georgia Interscholastic Association champions during segregation.

Kell beat Eagle’s Landing 61-53 in 5A, completing a Kell sweep of the boys and girls titles.

Kell, of Marietta, is the 19th GHSA school to win both championships in the same season. Kell’s girls defeated Warner Robins.

Sandy Creek beat Region 5 rival Cedar Grove 66-38 in 3A. Sandy Creek, of Fayette County, also beat Cedar Grove for the football championship in the fall and became the eighth school to win football and boys basketball titles in the same academic year, the first since Pace in 2015-16.

King’s Ridge Christian of Alpharetta defeated Mount Pisgah Christian 68-58 in Class A Division I. King’s Ridge, which lost to Mount Pisgah in the regular season, is thought to be the first fourth-place finisher from a region to win a title, though it has not been researched to confirm.

Final girls rankings will be released today.