Report: GHSA to move basketball finals out of Macon to UGA, Georgia Tech

The Georgia High School Association, after a troubled run of championship games this season in Macon, plans to move the state basketball tournament finals from the Macon Centreplex to college gyms at Georgia and Georgia Tech, according to a report by the Marietta Daily Journal.

Citing information from an open records request, the paper found the 2017 state basketball championship games will be held March 8 and 9 at UGA’s Stegeman Coliseum and March 10 and 11 at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion. A joint announcement between the schools and the GHSA is planned later this month or in early June, though GHSA executive director Gary Phillips said pulling the finals out of Macon hasn’t been finalized.

“Any change of venue is not finalized,” Phillips told the Marietta Daily Journal. “Therefore we are not prepared to comment at this time. Any statement would be premature.”

The Marietta paper also presented a March 17 email from GHSA associate director Ernie Yarborough inquiring about the possibility of returning the state basketball finals to Gwinnett.

Macon’s coliseum, and the GHSA, were blasted after a major gaffe in this season’s championship games where the basketball stanchions weren’t placed in the correct positions. It led to poor shooting on a court that featured several gaps where the floor boards didn’t connect properly.