GHSA 2022 STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS AMERICAN ASSOC. OF ADAPTED SPORTS PROGRAMS
HOUSTON COUNTY LOOKS TO RECLAIM ITS CHAMPIONSHIP GRIP
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF INTERSCHOLASTIC ADAPTED ATHLETICS
WWW.ADAPTEDSPORTS.ORG
W
hen the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP) Wheelchair basketball state championship takes center stage at 3 pm Saturday, Houston County will look to regain its dominance and take home the title. The Sharks carried an eight-year streak into the finals last year, but the Gwinnett Heat scored a 42-25 victory to end their record-setting championship run. Houston County has clearly been the team to beat for nearly a decade, but emergent programs have routinely challenged the standard that the Sharks continue to set. In 2020, the finals went into overtime for the first time in the sports’ history and Dylan Thompson scored his only points of the game to lift Houston County to a 23-22 victory. That game saw Houston County rally back from a 17-6 halftime deficit (wheelchair basketball plays six quarters. The Gwinnett Heat were familiar with Houston County and had met them in previous finals and came out last year victorious. Will Millikan’s 20 points fueled the Heat’s 20-point victory and gave Gwinnett its first state title since 2012. Houston County’s Seth Early finished with 18 points, but the Sharks could not pick up their ninth-straight title. This year, the DeKalb Silver Streaks will attempt to take down Houston County and achieve the team’s first-ever state title. The AAASP Wheelchair basketball state championships have been a thrilling and incredible part of the GHSA state championships for years and this year Houston County and DeKalb will faceoff before the Slam Dunk Final at 5 p.m. and Class 7A’s double-header to close out an incredible four days of Georgia high school basketball.
AAASP WHEELCHAIR ROSTERS DeKalb Silver Streaks No. 3 6 8 15 9
Name Jamel Boston William Jones Joseph Patterson Cameron Smothers Najee Smothers
No.
Name
14
Corey Swain
22
Noah Yonis
Coaches: Everette Shoates, Delton Shoates
Houston County Sharks No. 25 3 4 4 51
Name Adonis Brown Dalton Crosby Anthony Cuti Ger’mir Gordon Ca’ron Harris
No.
Name
21
Elianna Stevens
33
Dylan Thompson
24
Jaquavious West
8
Langley Yoh
Coaches: Christy Jones, Melissa Ring-Hartman
6 | WWW.GHSA.NET
Thank you to all of our school members, coaches, athletes and parents for the inspiration to continue our work to get Georgia students with physical disabilities off the sidelines and into the game! Learn more about how your school district or region can participate; participation is open to all GA students with a physical disability through the AAASP/GHSA alliance in partnership with GADOE. A special thanks to our founders and leadership, including our Board of Directors, whose steadfast commitment to AAASP makes opportunities available in athletics for students with physical disabilities possible year after year. For more information, contact AAASP or GHSA: adaptedsports.org or ghsa.net.
Visit adaptedsports.org | email sports@adaptedsports.org
