Jeff Hart

The Flowery Branch, Chestatee, East Hall and Gilmer boys basketball teams all picked up wins on Friday night, while Lakeview fell to Social Circle.

Favorites West Hall and Flowery Branch escaped the first day of the Hall County Dual Championships undefeated Friday night after taking two wins apiece at the Chestatee High gym.

Senior David Pruett poured in 29 points and Tyler Ward added 20 in a 91-79 win over Brevard (N.C.) Saturday night to lead the Lakeview Academy boys basketball team to a third-place finish in the Battle of the Borders tournament.

The Seattle Seahawks are expected to be watching the scoreboard as they wait to see if they'll host Washington, Minnesota or New Orleans in the playoffs. The Atlanta Falcons may be more interested in paying attention to the traffic reports, eager to leave town quickly following the end of a disastrous season packed with equal doses of losses and controversy.

Tom Brady was as giddy as the quarterback of an unbeaten and perhaps unbeatable team should be. The New England Patriots finished off a perfect regular season Saturday night with a thrilling 38-35 victory over the New York Giants.

Will Daniels scored a season-high 28 points and No. 25 Rhode Island beat Georgia Southern 85-80 Saturday night for the Islander Invitational championship.

Flowery Branch's Jaybo Shaw connected with Gerald Ford of Gainesville for an 11-yard touchdown but it was the only score in the game for the North in a 28-6 loss to the South Saturday in the GACA All-Star Classic.

Former Gainesville High standout Jamarco Warren poured in 21 points to lead Charleston Southern but it wasn't enough as the Bucs were routed by Gardner-Webb 105-77 Saturday night.

Kevin Smith couldn't catch Barry Sanders. There were too many Mississippi State Bulldogs in the way. Central Florida's All-American was limited to 119 yards on 35 carries, leaving him 61 yards shy of Sanders' single-season rushing record Saturday in a bruising 10-3 loss to Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl.

Former Gwinnett Gladiator Colin Stuart became the fourth player to advance to the National Hockey League after playing for the Gladiators after appearing in the Atlanta Thrashers 5-0 win against the Boston Bruins Saturday night at Phillips Arena.