Sandy Creek boys, Hebron girls finish the job with back-to-backs

If there was ever a predictable outcome for the boys and girls Class 3A seasons, we experienced it.

Sandy Creek’s boys and Hebron’s girls won championships, both in title-defense seasons. Sandy Creek beat Johnson-Savannah 74-49, marking the second championship for the program.

Hebron moved past rival Wesleyan 62-60 to win the third title in program history in a first-ever title defense for the Lions.

The two programs were favored from the opening of the season in November.

“This is such a different state championship,” said Sandy Creek head coach Jon-Michael Nickerson. “We were supposed to dominate and supposed to win it. That’s much harder to deliver with that type of pressure.”

But key Patriots players delivered.

Jacobi Robinson (18 points), Micah Smith (15 points), Jared White and P.J. Green (12 points each) and Amari Brown (11 points) scored all but six of the Patriots points in the final game of the season.

Nickerson’s approach to the game and his team might not be typical. Leading the guys to take post-game photos, he slid on the ground in excitement toward the GHSA banner and encouraged his team to follow suit.

It was vindication for the work he knows his team has put in. Nickerson works hard, clearly. But he plays that way, too.

“He is not your average high school coach,” said Smith. “He is a college coach. He pushes us as a college team. We are in the weight room every week, and he pushes us hard. Our preparation was on point.”

Smith, a 6-foot-7 power forward who signed with James Madison, is rated as a three-star recruit.

“He is a much more athletic … baby (Nikola) Jokic,” Nickerson said, referring to the Serbian-born Denver Nuggets star. “He is our best facilitator and has led the team in assists for three years. When you have a guy with that type of athleticism and that type of size and skill, that’s just dynamic.”

Johnson-Savannah entered the playoffs unranked and arrived at the title game as an unexpected challenger, after beating Jackson 76-50, Cross Creek 61-56, Hebron Christian 57-50 and Dougherty 55-51 in the semifinals. The Atomsmashers were led by Joshua Quarterman’s 20 points and Favion Kirkwood’s 16 points.

On the girls side, legendary Hebron head coach Jan Azar has won in many ways. She’s a 16-time state champion. She’s also a six-time state runner-up.

But after beating her former team, Wesleyan, 62-60 in the 3A championship game to win that coveted 16th championship, Azar was left perplexed at a technical foul called on a substitution which allowed Wesleyan to narrow the lead and gave the Wolves a chance at the victory.

“We had a 20-something point lead at one point and there were lots of free throws in the second half which changed the flow of the game,” she said.

The defending-champion Lions led 13-8 after the first quarter and 32-20 at the half. Hebron entered the fourth quarter ahead 47-35 and eventually weathered the 25-15 run from Wesleyan to secure the victory.

Entering the game’s final minute, Hebron held a 58-48 lead before a lay-in from Chit-Chat Wright cut Wesleyan’s deficit to 58-50. Aubrey Beckham extended Hebron’s lead to 60-50 on two-free throws with 50 seconds left. Wright’s 3-pointer with 45 seconds left narrowed the margin.

“We can only control what we can control,” Azar said. “And we did not do a great job of that until the last defensive stop.”

Mia James extended the Lions’ lead on a free throw with 31 seconds left, but Wright answered with another 3-pointer to leave Wesleyan trailing 61-56. With 20 seconds left, Beckham converted a free throw to extend the lead to 62-56 before the foul calls rolled in.

With six seconds left in the game, Amiya Porter was called for a foul that sent Eva Garabadian to the free-throw line. She missed the attempt. A dead ball foul was called, and Garabadian converted the ensuing free throw to leave the Wolves trailing 62-57.

The technical foul on the substitution happened between Garabadian’s free-throw attempts and she made the second to leave Wesleyan trailing 62-58. Wright went to the line for the technical foul and converted both, which got the Wolves to within a basket.

“On that last defensive stop,” Azar said. “We controlled what we could control, and we won the game.”

The Lions defensive stop was fueled by rare sloppy passing during a rushed moment from Wesleyan, in the program’s first finals appearance since Azar left the program. But it was a heads-up play from Beckham – who scored a team-leading 15 points for Hebron — that secured it.

“Aubrey got that great defensive stop when she punched the ball to keep the clock running,” Azar said. “They just did so well at not letting the moment get to them.”

Danielle Osho finished with 14 points, James added nine points and Ja’Kerra Butler and Nickyia Daniel had eight points. Wesleyan was led by Wright, who scored 24 points and Bryanna Preston, who added 22.

“That is a great job by Ellen Paroli,” Azar said of Wesleyan’s first-year coach. “She coached with me before I left five years ago. And that’s just great to see them come back from 20 points down and fight that hard. She’s teaching the girls to fight, not to quit and to play really good basketball. I am really proud of them.”

Here are the final rankings:

Class 3A boys

1. Sandy Creek (27-3)

2. Johnson-Savannah (20-12)

3. Dougherty (23-8)

4. Monroe (23-7)

5. Carver-Columbus (24-6)

6. Douglass (16-11)

7. Hebron Christian (25-4)

8. Cedar Grove (16-9)

9. Cross Creek (19-10)

10. Richmond Academy (19-7)