While Northside High boys basketball made history with the
first repeat of a region championship season, unfortunately there was also a
repeat result in the ensuing state first-round contest.
Windsor Forest, visiting Warner Robins from Savannah for
Wednesday’s GHSA Class AAAAA opener, built a seven-point first quarter lead and
gradually increased it to the 20s all the way to the final period. In the end,
the Region 2-AAAAA champion Eagles fell 69-60 much the way the 2011-12 champion
team from Northside bowed out in the first round at home to Liberty County
High.
Justin Burnam and Jarius Smith picked a ‘too-little,
too-late’ time to get hot shooting 3-pointers. They combined for four of the
five makes from outside the arc (Kyle Johnson sunk the fifth) in the final 1:20
of regulation. That gave Burnam 16 points and Smith 13.
Otherwise, the Eagles struggled in the outside game and only
had two players – forwards Robert Davis and Christian Kennedy – go to the foul
line. All of Davis’ six points were from the stripe, and Kennedy – on his way
to Tennessee-Chattanooga following graduation – scored seven and blocked four
shots.
It was also a game where the Windsor Forest Knights, a No. 4
seed from Region 3-AAAAA, had timely answers for any attempt the home team had
at staging a furious rally. It all started when Kennedy blocked a shot into the
hands of a Windsor Forest player, who scored to put his team ahead by three.
This was part of a 9-0 run that essentially decided the contest as the Eagles
had a miscommunication turnover and the Knights avoided double-teams in the
post to find a 3-pointer (9-3).
At 4:05 of the first period, Smith hit a 3 out of a timeout,
but the Knights answered with a quick 2. Though Kennedy registered his second
block and Davis created a turnover inside, it was Windsor Forest cashing in its
takeaway at 1:20 (13-6).
Johnson and Darrin Clark came off Matt Simon’s bench to make
their first shot attempts for five points. The Knights countered with four on
the inside to end the period at 17-11.
Northside pulled as close as three, 20-17, in the second
quarter. With four points from takeaways and a penetration dish executed away
from Kennedy, the Knights concluded the first half with a 14-6 run. They often
had two to three baskets for each one by the Eagles, who did get the final
field goal from Kennedy at the buzzer.
Leading 34-23 when the third period began, Winsdor Forest
used the first two minutes to score four from the offensive boards and two off
a turnover (40-25). The Knights would make their own miscommunication mistake,
and Trey Dennis passed ahead to Rodney Levine.
That, however, would be another 2-for-1 in Winsdor Forest’s
favor (44-27). At the 2:40 mark, Clark finally gave Northside a steal from its
press (44-31), but the next time down the Knights broke through the pressure to
find an open 3.
Burnam and Johnson were able to create some chaos with
steals in the final minute. Smith scored off both with the longest of rolls
from his home rim, and it was a 14-point game, 51-37, with the fourth still to
play.
Davis, Burnam and Clark all had steals in the fourth and
Kennedy blocked two shots. All that, however, didn’t keep the Knights from
reeling off six in a row. At 2:30, the visitors were up 20, 63-43, and 22
despite Clark’s fourth steal of the game.
HHJ News
