A Look Ahead At The Meadowcreek-Norcross Region Game
Atlanta, Georgia – It has been nine months since these two programs last met back in March. March 10, 2018 to be exact, so literally nine months. On that day, Norcross High School and Meadowcreek High School faced off in Georgia’s highest classification, class 7A, state title game at Georgia Tech University. Coming into that matchup, the Blue Devils of Norcross were making their return to the state title game after losing in the 2017 state championship game to Tift County High School. Unfortunately, in 2018, they came out with the same result after falling to Meadowcreek 56-43.
So wait, these two programs met four times last season? Yes that is correct. Both programs compete in the same region, region 7 in class 7A. Coming into last season’s state championship contest, Norcross defeated Meadowcreek three times inlcuding their region championship game where 2019 PG Kyle Sturdivant (USC commit) hit the game winning shot. All of their matchups last season were extremely competitive and were close games. Both schools are just a couple miles away and sit in the city of Norcross, Georgia.
After taking the crown last year, the Meadowcreek Mustangs have reloaded their roster to defend their title this season. The Mustangs have not shied away from the competition at all this year. Coming into this matchup, Meadowcreek has already faced some of the best basketball programs in state and around the country. They have already faced Wheeler, Discovery, Dacula, South Shore (NY), Wasatch Academy (UT), and Mountain Brook (AL), so these guys are battle tested. 2019 PG Jalen Benjamin (UAB commit) and 2019 SG Damian Dunn (Temple commit) of Meadowcreek have been settling in really well and have had a solid season so far after transferring from the state of North Carolina.
For Norcross, the powerhouse program started the 2018-2019 season to a somewhat slow start after losing their first two games of the season to Wheeler and Southwest Dekalb. Since then, the Blue Devils have won six straight games and that includes wins over out of state programs Bishop Snyder (FL) and West Charlotte (NC). 2020 W Brandon Boston Jr. and 2019 PG Kyle Sturdivant (USC commit) headline this seasons Norcross team. Brandon Boston is coming into this matchup averaging 23 points per game while pulling down 8 rebounds per game. BJ is one of the best prospects in the country regardless of class and is currently ranked #15 in his class according to ESPN.
The player matchups in this one will be very interesting. Coach Gilleyen has set a new culture at Meadowcreek and that culture is man-to-man pressure defense. The Mustangs are coming into this matchup only giving up 50.2 points per game from their opponent. 2019 SG Jamir Chaplin (South Florida commit) is one of the best on ball defenders in the country and he should be expected to guard Brandon Boston of Norcross, who as you can see is one of the best scorers in the state.
This is only the first meeting between these two programs this season and their next meeting after this one is not until February 1, 2019. With the talent both Meadowcreek and Norcross have and the schedule they will be playing as the season goes along, we should not be surprised at all if these two meet once again in their region title game, which will be played at Meadowcreek High School this season. Meadowcreek is expected to host the region 7 class 7A region tournament in mid February. That certainly will give the Mustangs some help come region tournament time.