Alpharetta Boys Basketball Team Close To Perfect Season

By Mike Blum

ALPHARETTA, GA -- After a four-year stretch that included 85 wins -- six in the state playoffs, the Alpharetta Raiders High School Raiders boys basketball team struggled to a losing record last year and a first round state tournament loss.

Fredrick Hurt, the Raiders’ coach for those five seasons, left to become head coach at West Forsyth, with long-time Pope assistant Jason Dasinger taking the top job at Alpharetta. With the 2016-17 season nearing its conclusion, West Forsyth is 3-18 and last in Region 5-AAAAAAA. In Dasinger’s first season as head coach, the Raiders are 22-1 and first in 7-AAAAAA.

“Things have gone as well as they could and that’s because of the kids,” Dasinger said after a 52-50 victory at home against region rival Chattahoochee on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The Raiders are likely to finish the season 24-1 and will be the top seed in the region tournament, which begins the week of Feb. 6.

Dasinger took over a team that returned most of the regulars from last season and added some key transfers. The Raiders have been on both ends of the recent transfer trend, losing two of their top returning players from the 25-6 team in 2014-15 to Gwinnett schools, as well as graduating Devontae Cacok, a starter as a sophomore in college for 19-2 UNC-Wilmington.

Most of the previous Alpharetta playoff teams relied on a standout player or two – Cacok, Ty Toney (Eastern Michigan) and Carlos Burse, whose college football career never took off. This year’s team lacks a dominant player, although Ellis Merriweather scored 37 points the previous weekend in a 69-66 win at Cambridge, along with Chattahoochee among the three teams likely to join Alpharetta in the state playoffs from the region.

Merriweather is one of four Raiders who has started in football and basketball, and is the team’s primary inside presence despite lacking the height (6-2) of most players he goes head-to- head against.

“Ellis is strong enough to play inside,” Dasinger says. “He’s built like a post but plays like a guard. He’s the best player on the floor when he wants to be.”

Merriweather was a non-factor for much of the game against Chattahoochee, but scored eight of his 10 points in the third quarter, when the Raiders went on a 16-3 run to take a 42-32 lead into the final period.

This will be Merriweather’s only season for the Raiders after transferring from King’s Ridge following his junior year there. He is expected to play college football after sharing time this season as the Raiders’ featured running back.

Carlos Carriere, a 6-5 senior, will also be playing college football next fall, although you would not think he was a Division I recruit after looking at him in a basketball uniform. The rail-thin Carriere was one of the area’s top wide receivers, with 13 of his 44 receptions going for touchdowns. He averaged 17.5 yards per catch and will be signing a football scholarship with Maryland in a few weeks.

Carriere is among the Raiders’ main offensive threats, doing most of his damage from long range, particularly on corner 3s. He hit three of them against the Cougars. Carriere’s long wing span also helps him offset his thin frame on the boards and he uses his length to force turnovers.

Talented sophomore Brandon Barron directs the Raiders’ offense at point guard, and while his flashy style results in some mistakes, he also can be counted on for some highlight-reel plays every game, either as a scorer or distributor. He led the Raiders with 16 points against Chattahoochee.

“He has an enormous future,” Dasinger says of Barron. “He’s led us to a 22-1 record and I don’t think any other sophomore point guard in the state can say that.”

Jaycee Horn, a junior transfer, enjoyed an outstanding season as a cornerback in football, and was a starter at guard in basketball before suffering a groin injury. Horn is one of a number of Alpharetta players averaging at or just under 10 points a game, and Dasinger hopes to have him back for the region tournament.

Ryan Jenei is also part of that group, and is one of the returning regulars from last season. The 6-3 junior wing can score inside and out and does “a little bit of everything,” Dasinger says. He scored a pair of baskets, including a 3-pointer, in the Raiders’ third quarter burst.

Marcus Hill, a junior who started at wide receiver in football along with Carriere, has taken over for Horn in the starting lineup in basketball, and scored all six of his points against Chattahoochee in the final period, including four late free throws.

David Swillum is also a returning regular from last year after transferring from Milton, and is serving as the team’s sixth man, providing some offense and strong defense off the bench. With the influx of some new talent, Swillum’s minutes have gone down this year along with a teammate or two. But the coaching change and roster alterations have not been a detriment to the team’s fortunes, with the Raiders excelling (with one exception) late in close games.

Nine of Alpharetta’s wins have come by six points or fewer, including a pair of fourth-quarter comeback victories early in the season over Milton and Dunwoody, both by two points. The Raiders’ lone loss came by one point in early December at Centennial, which is 4-9 in the region.

Dasinger said the Raiders had a shot late in the game that would have changed the outcome, but the team may be better off in the long run not having to worry about protecting a perfect record.

The Raiders are ranked sixth in the state in AAAAAA behind several teams with 3-to-5 losses, largely due to the team’s lack of a signature victory. Alpharetta has three wins against respected 7A programs, but all three are playing at a .500 level or below this season. Still, beating Mill Creek and Brookwood back-to-back and winning the prestigious Deep South Classic over the holidays was a big boost to the Raiders’ confidence.

“We have a pretty talented bunch and I think we can go as far as we want to go,” Dasinger said of the Raiders’ tournament hopes. “They’re a great bunch of kids.”

Image via Patch