Sweet 16 victories on Saturday pushed six DeKalb County high school basketball teams into the Elite 8 including the Lithonia Bulldogs for the first time since the 2004 season.

Coach Wallace Corker’s Bulldogs, behind a 28 point performance from Kesean Warren, rolled to an 81-60 victory over Mt. Zion-Jonesboro to push their record to 27-2 which matches the program’s best record set in 1972 under the direction of Coach Chat Atkins.

Mt. Zion (24-7) pulled within 9-6 on a pair of Paul Miller free throws which were answered by a three-pointer from Rodney Chatman and a quick flurry of driving layups from Warren, including a three-point play that would put Lithonia up 19-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Ty Patterson opened 23- point explosion in the second period by the Bulldogs with a couple of baskets inside and Warren hit three-pointers on back-to-back trips up the court as the lead ballooned to 33-15. Cortez Robinson had a pair of back-to-back baskets late in the period and Ty’Heem Freeman’s two free throws to end the half had the Bulldogs doubling the Mt. Zion score at 42-21.

Warren would add three more from behind the arc in the second half along with two more baskets as the Bulldogs punched their ticket to the Elite 8 for the first time since the 2004 season to take on the Cairo Syrup Makers (19-13).

Ty’Heem Freeman finished with 14 points and Rodney Chatman added 11 to join Warren in double figures for the Bulldogs. Paul Miller hit for 26 for Mt. Zion and was joined in double figures by Jathan Oliver (11) and Ari Zorns (10).

Class 6A
The Tucker Tigers advanced to their third consecutive Class 5A Elite 8 berth 55-32 victory over in a tough defensive battle against Archer at Tucker on Saturday night.

The No. 6 ranked Tigers (28-2) and Archer both struggled in the first quarter, but Tucker came out ahead with a 7-0 lead. The Tigers would go on to take a 26-16 lead at the half.

Tucker behind a 22 point performance from Auburn signee Bryce Brown continued to pull away in the second half on the way to the 55-32 victory.

Tucker hosts No. 8 ranked Hillgrove (23-5) on Wednesday.

Girls
Mountain View 52, Tucker 30
The Mountain View Lady Bears ended the Tucker Lady Tigers season with a 52-30 win at Tucker on Saturday.

The Lady Bears (23-5) used a big second quarter to pull away from the Lady Tigers (18-12). Mountain View was up 17-12 in a tight game at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was all Mountain View as the Lady Bears scored 17 points and held Tucker to just five points in the period to take a 34-17 at the half.

The two teams played even in the third quarter and Mountain View headed into the final quarter of play up 44-27.

Class 5A
The big story in Class 5A boys was the big comeback by the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions to nip undefeated McIntosh 66-65 to advance to the Elite 8 for the first time since a 2007 run to the semifinals.

Juquan Jones, who finished with a game-high 35 points, was fouled on a drive to the basket with six seconds to play and nailed both free throws to give the Lions the 66-65 lead they would hold on to in the final seconds.

McIntosh (29-1) had fallen behind 31-28 at the half as the Lions rallied to take the lead in the second quarter. McIntosh looked to be extending their record to 30-0 with a big third quarter to take a 52-39 lead with just eight minutes to play.

Jones was the catalyst in the fourth quarter as the Lions came roaring back only to have McIntosh’s Jordan Lyons hit a pair of free throws to give his team a 65-64 advantage. Jones then answered with his drive to set up the foul and game winning free throws.

The Lions (24-5) move on to road trip to Cedar Shoals (22-8) on Wednesday.

Miller Grove 50, Statesboro 42
The junior tandem of Alterique Gilbert and Raylon Richardson teamed up for 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Miller Grove Wolverines to finally put away the Statesboro Devils 50-42 in a Class 5A boys’ quarterfinal at Miller Grove on Saturday.

Statesboro forced some turnovers early in the fourth quarter to trim the lead to 41-37 on a basket by Miles White with 4 minutes to play.

Gilbert answered with a three-pointer and Richardson drove to the basket following a steal to push the lead back out to 46-37. Gilbert would add two free throws and then feed Richardson on a long pass down court for a dunk as the lead went to 10 at 50-40 with less than a minute to play.

Statesboro would get two late free throws from Montrell Hilton for the final margin of 50-42.

Gilbert finished with 16 points and Richardson with 14 to lead the Wolverines (27-3). Jaylan Patrick had a game-high 17 and Michael Saloman added 13 for Statesboro (16-11).

Miller Grove advances to the Elite 8 for the eighth consecutive season and travels to Warner Robins in a rematch of the 2014 state finals.

Girls

The streak of three consecutive years of reaching the state finals came to an end for the Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers in a 54-49 defeat to Forest Park on Friday night.

Southwest (22-8) trailed by 14 (38-24) late in the third quarter when the team began to rally. A basket by Jada Walton and a free throw by Michaela Bennefield cut the lead to 38-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

Cori Bostic’s offensive rebound and put back trimmed the lead to 38-32 with just over 5 minutes to play. Forest Park came down the floor and blocking call on Southwest DeKalb turned into a three-point play for Forest Park’s Kanisha Tharpe that pushed the lead back to 41-32 with 5:00 on the clock.

Walton scored eight consecutive points for the Lady Panthers to cut the lead to 46-43 with 1:40 to play. Forest Park managed to hit 8 of 12 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Jada Walton finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds and Daisa Alexander with 10 for Southwest. Tharpe finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead Forest Park.

Stephenson 80, Brunswick 70
The No. 5 ranked Stephenson Lady Jaguars went on the road and knocked off No. 1 ranked and previously undefeated Brunswick 80-70 to advance to the Elite 8.

Davion Wingate had a game-high 28 points and led the charge in a big 48 point first half for the Lady Jaguars (25-5). Stephenson went on to lead 64-50 late in the game and held off the home team for the win.

Chloe Culpepper added 10 points in the victory for Stephenson which is playing in its 15th consecutive state playoff. Stephenson travels to Sequoyah on Tuesday for their Elite 8 date.

The Miller Grove Lady Wolverines (15-12) had their season end in a 52-41 loss at Dutchtown on Friday night.

Class 3A Boys
The No. 3 ranked Cedar Grove Saints went on the road to Calhoun in the second round and brought home a 52-42 victory to advance to the Elite 8 for the second consecutive year.

Christopher Fredrick had a game-high 19 points as the Saints led 24-19 at the half and 35-29 after three quarters. A 17-13 advantage in the third quarter fueled by Fredrick helped the Saints extend the lead.

DeKalb Co. State Tournament Results
Friday, Feb. 20
Class 5A
Forest Park (27-4) 54, SW DeKalb (22-8) 49
Dutchtown (17-13) 52, Miller Grove (15-12) 41

Saturday, Feb. 21
Class 6A
Girls
Mountain View (23-5) 52, Tucker (18-12) 30
Boys
Tucker (28-2) 55, Archer (20-10) 32

Class 5A
Girls
Stephenson (25-5) 80, Brunswick (28-1) 70
Boys
M.L. King (24-5) 66, McIntosh (29-1) 65
Miller Grove (27-3) 50, Statesboro (17-11) 42

Class 4A
Lithonia (27-2) 81, Mt. Zion-Jonesboro (24-7) 60

Class 3A
Cedar Grove (22-4) 52, Calhoun (22-4) 42