Dangerous Teams outside the Top 10: Class 5A

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Houston County</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bears narrowly missed out on opening in the Top 10, bumped out at the last second. Houston County is set to return five of their top six players from a 22-7 team that fell to Alexander in overtime in the Sweet 16. Morehead State-commit [player_tooltip player_id='1696176' first='Malik' last='Gillespie'] (13.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.9 spg) powers the Bears, filling up the stat sheet as an uber-athletic playmaker. Josh Jackson (12 ppg), [player_tooltip player_id='2962516' first='Karon' last='Plummer'] (4.4 ppg) and [player_tooltip player_id='2523959' first='Andrew' last='Wahiwe'] (4 ppg) provide depth in the backcourt. The frontcourt stands out for the Bears with 6-foot-8 lineman [player_tooltip player_id='2783668' first='Braylin' last='Mills'] (6.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg) an unmovable object inside and 6-foot-7 junior [player_tooltip player_id='2879788' first='Mahkel' last='Stephens'] transferring in from Howard to help replace some production left behind by freshman [player_tooltip player_id='2757753' first='Josh' last='Sanders'] who elected to play at Central Fellowship Christian instead.&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='2844273' first='Abram' last='Austin'] is a polished low post scorer if he is able to break into the rotation as a junior. Houston County should win the Region 2 title after losing to Lee County last year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Newnan</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coming off an 18-8 season with no state playoffs, the Cougars are in position to contend in Region 3 behind juniors [player_tooltip player_id='2845068' first='Jaylin' last='Brown'] (16.3 ppg, 5 rpg) and Eric Coleman (10.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg) the team's two top scorers from a season ago. Jaylen Britt is another experienced junior who filled up the box score last season at 6.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals. Two transfers will make a difference in 6-foot-8 senior [player_tooltip player_id='2921376' first='Landon' last='Thomas'] from Callaway and 6-foot-1 junior Jaxson Dragg from The Heritage School. Newnan had great winning success over the summer and will try to parlay their play into regular season wins.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Johns Creek</strong> </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Gladiators return all their key contributors from last season's 14-11 group that missed out on the postseason. The senior-laden group is anchored by All-State wing [player_tooltip player_id='2425890' first='Tatum' last='Holmes'], a do-everything two-way star. He's joined by knockdown shooter [player_tooltip player_id='2201313' first='Ben' last='Uhde'], 6-foot-7 mismatch creator [player_tooltip player_id='2025384' first='Thomas' last='Landeck'], 6-foot-6 Jack Rinehart and powerful guards [player_tooltip player_id='2245631' first='Christian' last='Cooper'] and Isaiah Johnson. All the ingredients are in place for Johns Creek to make some noise if they are able to claw their way out of a challenging Region 7-5A. The Gladiators impressed at GBCA Live winning the Red Division Championship, with double digit wins over Central Gwinnett, Therrell, Eastside and Newnan.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->