The Class AAA basketball season ended Thursday in Macon after four teams determined the fate of their respective seasons. Would they leave thinking they let a championship season get away? Or would their teams go down in the record books as state champions, to be remembered by their fan bases forever.
For the Greater Atlanta Christian boys and Johnson-Savannah girls, the championship was the cherry on the top of a long, hard-fought season that saw highs, lows and everything in between. In the end, the hardest-working, most in-tune team came together as champions.
"It's awesome. Gosh, I'm so proud of my boys," said GAC coach David Eaton following his teams 67-53 victory against Jenkins. "We beat a really talented team tonight. "I said to them at the half, 'you've been through adversity before, right?' so let's do it one more time. And they all smiled. Jenkins came out and slapped us in the face in the second quarter and we responded with our own second-half run. This is just a product of the school right here. We have great young men, great coaches, guys with great work ethic and great character. It's good to see guys like that get rewarded with a state championship."
The GAC victory was the eighth state boys basketball championship in program history, and the moment was sweet. It wasn't easy in the title game, a testament to the Jenkins program.
"It wasn't the prettiest game," GAC coach David Eaton told the Savannah Morning News. "Jenkins is so aggressive and athletic, but we did a good job getting to loose balls and rebounding. Hunter (McIntosh) didn't have his best game, but Ben Sheppard and Roy Dixon stepped up. And in the second half, we did a good job getting the ball inside to (Chris) Hinton and working the ball inside to out. Our guys are so coachable."
The loss was bittersweet for Jenkins because the game was, unbeknownst at the time, the last game for head coach Barin Bryant, who will be an assistant on Berkmar's basketball team next season.
Bryant posted a record of 173-44 in his seven years at Jenkins, leading the Warrior to the 2015 state title in AAA and to a runner-up finish in 2016.
"I've had a great experience at Jenkins, it's been crazy," Bryant told the Morning News. "My goal was to build a top program, and I think I was successful doing that. But it takes full support to have an elite program. The hardest thing is leaving the kids. The relationships I have with them are deeper than the sea. But my wife and family have made a lot of sacrifices for me, and now it's my turn to make a sacrifice and help my family financially."
On the girls side, Johnson-Savannah moved past GAC to earn its first-ever girls state basketball championship. Entering the game, Johnson could have been seen as an underdog, but if confidence was lacking on the Johnson bench, you would not have known it. Coach Brandon Lindsey's swagger permeated the sideline during the duration of the championship game. Part coach, part cheerleader, part wanting to be on the floor to play, Lindsey was fully invested in the game.
And his girls followed suit.
The Lady Atom Smashers capped off a 23-6 season with a dominant 62-50 victory after entering the tournament as a No. 2 seed following its loss to Beach in the 3-AAA championship game.
"It doesn't sting anymore," Johnson coach Brandon Lindsey laughed after the game as he stood in the center of the court, soaking in the moment. He was referring to the sting of falling to local rival, Beach, in the championship last year.
"I just want to thank God," he said. "This was a journey, and those girls worked so hard together. It's just a beautiful thing to see our hard work get rewarded. It's beautiful to see these young women mature, and then the process just ends with a championship like that, that's how it is supposed to go."
Johnson utilized 6-foot-4 center Giana Copeland to perfection, thwarting the Lady Spartans' inside game and forcing a one-dimensional approach from the perimeter. The plan worked like a charm in the championship game.
"What it is, we watched film on them and we realized that the teams they've been playing against, they haven't gone against size like (Giana)," Lindsey said. "They like to drive the basketball, and Giana is our defensive stopper. … That's what she likes to do. So we knew that would play into our hands and make them one-dimensional by having to stay out on the perimeter and shoot the ball."
Johnson star Sy'Marieona Williams, who finished with 12 points in the championship game, said that the belief in her own program help fuel the fire for the Atom Smashers. They believed in themselves when others didn't.
"We have been dreaming about this moment since the beginning of the season," said Williams as she sat on the bench after the game, surrounded by her team. "We believed in us, even when our city didn't. So it means a lot to us that we did it despite everybody not thinking we can. And when I look at these girls right here," she said while pointing to her team, "I know they're state champs."
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