Alpharetta Raiders Take Championship Hopes into Semifinals

The Alpharetta Raiders take their improbable playoff run to Gwinnett Arena at 5:30 p.m. today, March 8, facing the Savannah Blue Jackets, which comes into the semifinals with a 29-2 record. Compare that to the Raiders and their 19-12 record .

head Coach Frederick Hurt shared a few keys to the game with the media.

"We must keep them off the glass, and take care of the ball against their press," he said this week.

Against man defense the Raiders run an open post motion offense, with coaches preaching to the players to share the ball. They must be willing to give up a good shot to get the team a great shot–and the team understands that the better shooters and scorers take more of the shots.

"Defensively we are a man-to-man team and will spot press," Hurt said.

Patch will be at the playoff games today. But if you can't make it, you can still watch the online telecast by GHSA starting at 5:30 p.m., linked here on Patch.

Scoring leaders on the team include:

Ty Toney, 18.6 points per game, in last 12 games 24 ppg;, in the playoffs, 31ppg. He's 45 of 53 from the free throw line in the last five games for 84.9 percent

Carlos Burse, 15.8 ppg

Bjorn Walker and David Zisek, both with 8.6 ppg, Walker in last 4 games 12.8 ppg.

Rebounds and Assists

Bjorn Walker, 8.1 rebounds per game

Ty Toney, 6.4 rebounds per game.  He leads in assists and steals.

Carlos Burse, 5.5 rebounds per game, 72 percent free throw shooting

David Zisek, 72 percent free throw shooting.

Alpharetta is having success this season after losing six seniors from last year's team. Earl Hill was an All-Region player who now at Frank Phillips Jr College. Davion Jones and DJ Suter were both honorable mention All-Region. Other seniors from last year who moved on were Mikal Abdul Saboor, a three-year varsity player and Logan Reitz, a starter.

This year, Ty Toney is generating a lot of interest from Eastern Carolina University,  Murray State, Tennessee Tech, Georgia State, Presbyterian and Appalachian State, to name a few schools. He's had no Division 1 offers yet, though both Newberry and North Georgia have offered.

Carlos Burse's basketball talents are getting interest from the College of Charleston. He has too many football offers to list them, Hurt said.

Alpharetta High is in its eighth year, but last year was the first winning season in boy's basketball with a 17-8 record. The team was upset in the region tournament so it didn't make the playoffs.

Coach Hurt said all five starts played in the school's feeder system, with 11 of the 13 players on the team having done that.

Hurt may not have been coaching in Alpharetta had he not met his future wife at a basketball tournament in Disney World five years ago when he was still coaching in North Carolina.

"My wife, Angela Anderson Hurt, is the head girls coach here at Alpharetta. Her team won the region this year and made it to the sweet 16," he said.

He had coached in North Carolina for 13 years before moving to Georgia to get married. The couple has an 11-month-old child, Hartley Rose Hurt.

His basketball roots go back to his father, Howard Hurt, who was the captain of Duke’s first ACC tournament championship team in 1960.