No. 2 Milton, on unlikely path, marches past Riverwood; No. 1 Woodward Academy next

Leonard, in his final prep game before heading to Stetson, finished with a game-high 39 points to Dixon’s 22.

Leonard averaged more than 31 points per game this season, but Riverwood (16-12) wasn’t the same after the graduation of Class 6A player of the year Karris Bilal, now at Vanderbilt.

“We just didn’t have enough to go along with (Leonard) tonight to beat Milton, but he’s an incredible player. and I’m going to miss him,” said Riverwood coach Buck Jenkins, who just finished his 16th season at Riverwood after delivering the program its only championship last season.

The collision course between these north Fulton County teams seemed unlikely just a week ago.

The Eagles entered the Region 7-5A tournament 12-0 in region play and seven losses overall, most of them against out-of-state teams and two to No. 1 Grayson and No. 2 Wheeler of Class 6A.

Yet, in their first game of the region tournament, the Eagles lost 62-56 to a 12-14 Lanier team.

Though they responded in the consolation game with an 89-55 win over Seckinger, their lone region loss was a costly one. It put Milton on the road for this round and perhaps for the tournament. Now Milton will travel to Woodward Academy (24-1), the team that took over the top spot in the rankings after Milton’s loss.

“You take what table you set, right?” said coach Allen Whitehart, who guided Milton to a Class 7A title in 2021. “We tried to set the table, as we went through region 12-0, but we didn’t do what we needed to do when it counted. Our kids know you have to beat everybody to win it all, but it’s probably not the best situation to be road warriors.”

Milton athletic director Kory Keys, on hand for the game, spoke of his support for the GHSA to adopt using power rankings to seed the 32 state-playoff teams. The format was proposed at the most recent reclassification committee meeting on Jan. 24, though it couldn’t go into effect for two years.

Under traditional seeding rules, a third-place region-tournament finisher is not likely to have a home game in the tournament and usually gets a top-10 opponent in the second round. But using power ratings to seed 1-32, Milton and Woodward would not meet so soon.

“It’s much needed and long overdue,” Keys said. “The brackets are pre-determined and completely arbitrary. Basketball and volleyball are the only sports with region tournaments, and your seeding is based on how you finish in the tournament, which devalues the regular season.”

Keys pointed out that a No. 1-ranked college team, such as Auburn, could still get a No. 1 seed if it failed to win its conference tournament.

“I think we have to value the regular season better, and I think the folks at the GHSA are listening to that,” Keys said.

For Riverwood, the path to Milton was an upward climb. Though the Raiders finished with their lowest win total since 2022, their mostly-young nucleus developed chemistry as the season went on and came within a point of winning Region 6, losing 75-74 to Sequoyah.

Though the Raiders will graduate their leading scorer for the second time in as many seasons, Jenkins believes Wednesday’s loss is something the team can build off next season.

“J.R. is a leader and he’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Jenkins said. “We start two sophomores and we’ve got some other younger guys that now have some experience, who we’re expecting next year to step up and feel the disappointment from this type of game, so that when we get back to this moment next year, they know what it takes to pull it out.”