MACON – Morgan County brought the show to town Saturday in Macon, and Tookie Brown was the master of ceremonies.
The Bulldogs used their superior athleticism to bolt to a 20-5 lead after one quarter, and went on to win the Class AAA title with a boatload of style and panache, 69-45 over Buford, in the Macon Centreplex. Brown led all scorers with 36 points and showed an array of skills that make him the best player in Georgia that most of metro Atlanta has never heard of.
“If there is a better player in Georgia, you’re going to have to show me,” said Morgan County head coach Charlemagne Gibbons, who added that the game was a statement about the program in Madison, Ga., about 90 minutes east of Atlanta.
“These guys have played all over the place the past few years, and so coming here in this atmosphere with this crowd was not new to them,” said Gibbons, whose team was supported by a crowd that filled nearly half of the arena. “We’ve got gamers on this team. We wanted to show everybody that we work just as hard to win championships as the teams in metro Atlanta.”
Things got off to a rocky start for Buford (27-6) before the game even started, when one of the Wolves’ players tripped and fell while running onto the court, causing a couple of players in the line behind him to fall as well. Then the game started.
Buford led 2-1 early when Morgan County sophomore Jailyn Ingram raised the curtain on the show when he soared in from the right wing and flushed home a thunderous one-handed dunk off of a rebound. The play ignited a 10-0 run by the Bulldogs – capped by a steal and dunk by Brown – that propelled Morgan County to a 13-2 lead it would never give back.
The lead ballooned to 20-5 at the end of the first quarter when Bulldog sophomore Devorious Brown knocked down a 3-pointer at the buzzer, off of a feed from Brown.
Morgan County pushed the margin to 28-12 midway through the second quarter after two, 3-point plays by Brown, who completed both baskets after muscling through heavy contact.
Later in the period, Brown showed off his passing skills with two lob passes on consecutive trips down the floor that were both hammered home by senior forward C.J. Thurman (Tennessee). Brown closed the half with a driving layup down the lane after passing the ball to himself – behind his back – while knifing through the Buford defense, to give Morgan County a 37-19 lead at halftime.
The onslaught continued in second half when the Bulldogs opened with a 9-4 spurt, capped by a 3-pointer by senior point guard Davon Gibbs.
“Guys like Davon Gibbs and C.J. Thurman, our senior, have led this program and I’m really happy for those guys,” said Gibbons, who added that he and his team learned from last season’s second round defeat at the hands of North Hall.
“We were undercut last year by a good North Hall team because we didn’t get out fast,” Gibbons said. “That has been our motto this season: start fast. We did that tonight.”
Morgan County (69) – Tookie Brown 36, C.J. Thurman 15, Jailyn Ingram 8, Davon Gibbs 5, Devorious Brown 3, T.J. Starks 2
Buford (45) – Rakim Lubin 12, Justin Edwards 8, D'Marcus Simonds 6, Montgomery Vangorder 6, Matt McMorris 5, Keyton Gibson 4, Aaron Auer 2, Isaac Nauta 2
