Class A Public Blog: Key region games begin to put top four seeds in focus

Less than a month remains in basketball’s regular season, so each of the region matchups are becoming more important.

Between now and Feb. 19, each of the eight regions will have to submit their top four seeds to the GHSA for state tournament play that begins Feb. 22-23.

And, weather permitting, some of the games this weekend just might determine how those seedings will play out:

Boys

-- No. 3 Dublin (15-1, 8-0) leads the Region 4 standings and will play at home against No. 8 Dooly County (8-3, 5-3) Saturday. Dooly is the fourth seed in the league at this point, behind Wheeler County (9-2) and Wilcox County (6-3). Dublin is coming off a 72-50 victory against Montgomery County (3-10); Dooly County lost 55-50 to Wheeler County on Tuesday.

-- No. 5 Manchester (17-1, 9-0) leads the Region 5 standings and has a chance to increase the advantage this weekend with two key region matchups. Manchester will play Macon County (10-6, 7-3) Friday at home and will travel to No. 9 Chattahoochee County (9-4, 6-3) Saturday. Junior Zy’Juan Gray is scoring 15 points to lead Manchester. Senior Tra’vion Jackson (14.2 points) and junior Eli’juan Wright (13.3) are making strong contributions.

Girls

-- No. 7 Mount Zion-Carroll is tied atop the Region 6 standings with Trion (6-0) and leads Gordon Lee (4-2) and Armuchee (2-3). The Eagles will host Gordon Lee on Friday before traveling to Trion on Monday to determine the front-runner.

-- No. 3-ranked Taylor County (13-2, 9-0) leads the Region 5 standings, ahead of Schley County (10-3, 9-1) and Central-Talbotton (6-2). Taylor County will host Marion County (0-8) Friday before traveling to Central-Talbotton on Saturday for a Region 5 contest. Taylor County’s Jaliyah Zackery leads scorers with 22 points per game and helped lead the Vikings to a 62-50 victory against Chattahoochee County on Tuesday.

*Winter Weather advisories in the eastern part of the state could impact games and game times.

Class A Public boys top-10

3. Dublin

5. Manchester

9. Chattahoochee County

10. Warren County