ACWORTH, GA – In Georgia basketball circles, we know about the longtime state championship teams. For the most part, the same teams compete for titles year in and year out.

In football, you know Calhoun is going to roll out a team worthy of the Georgia Dome. In hoops, the Yellow Jackets are hoping to join the conversation with the familiar faces on the hardwood.

The north Georgia program took another step closer to Macon on Wednesday night as the team beat Carrollton 58-40 to win the Smile Generation bracket of the Lake City Classic. It is time to start talking more about the Yellow Jackets.

“That was part of our pregame talk. We told them this was our opportunity to put yourselves on the map for basketball,” head coach Vince Layson said. “Calhoun is known for football. With the athletes we’ve got, that was our m.o. coming in. We wanted to put ourselves on the map and they did.”

Calhoun beat North Cobb, Kell and Carrollton to bring home the championship. The team is now 8-0 on the season and have the pieces to make another march to Macon.

Jireh Wilson, the Smile Generation bracket and overall LCC MVP, led Calhoun with 19 points and had control of the contest in every aspect. Ray Reeves was hot from deep, hitting three three-pointers en route to 13 points. All-tournament selection Kaelen Riley added seven points.

“(Kaelen and I) started on this four years ago. We started when we were freshmen and we made it to the state championship game our sophomore year,” Wilson said. “We really took it hard. Then last year after going out early in the second round, we took it really hard. We knew this year there was an opportunity for us to do something special so we had to came out and set the tone early.”

Defensively, Calhoun took the air out of the Carrollton attack. The Trojans had 17 points on the board in the first half and never found their rhythm on offense.

“Defense is what we pride ourselves on. Our motto is you can have off nights on offense but you can’t have off nights on defense," Layson said. "They brought it three for three straight games. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Senior Desmond Webb led the Trojans with 17 points in the loss. He was named to the All-Tournament team.