Macon -- Only one shovel of dirt was needed to bury the Savannah basketball team on Saturday. Down 10 points late in the fourth quarter against their region rival, it appeared the Blue Jackets would have to wait another year to end their long championship drought.
With their backs against the wall, Savannah used some great defense and clutch shooting down the stretch to produce a comeback to rival any of the championships won by any of the legacy program’s great history.
The Blue Jackets, trailing 50-40 with 3:31 remaining, finished with an 18-2 run to defeat McIntosh County Academy 58-52 and win the Class A Division II championship at the Macon Coliseum. It was the first state title for Savannah since 1998 and the 12th in school history.
“Our whole team worked too hard for this,” Savannah’s Stephon Fox said. “We worked five years. We came through COVID. We came here, handled business like we knew we would. We faced adversity, came to our senses and won again. We played Savannah High basketball.”
Savannah’s big move was fueled by Chance Hendricks, who hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second that put the Blue Jackets ahead 52-51 with 1:11 remaining. Hendricks then stole the ball on the next possession, which led to pair of free throws which he made.
On the following trip downcourt it was Maki Joyner who tied up the dribbler and forced a jump ball, with possession going to Savannah. Joyner then intelligently tipped the inbound pass to Fox, who scored an unattested layup for a 56-51 lead with 30 seconds left.
“Chance Hendricks and the rest of the guys just really, really believed,” Savannah coach George Brown said. “They trusted it and they fought back. It just them know that everything that we’re showing them in life is about working because when adversity hits and life gets hard, we’re going to do what we need to do in order for us to be successful.”
Savannah (27-4) brought a team loaded with seniors, 11 of them who played together in the development league and through junior high. The sole mission this season was to win a state title.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Maki Joyner, voted the Region 3 Player of the Year. “We’ve been playing together since the sixth and seventh grade and we just wanted to come together and bring the city together because there’s so much stuff going on. We try to set an example for everybody else, so it just feels awesome.”
Hendricks led Savannah with 17 points, including four 3-pointers, and eight rebounds. Joyner scored 14 points with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Fox scored eight points and had seven rebounds.
“I’ve always been saying that there are other people on the team that step up,” Joyner said. “They actually did it in a big moment, so it’s awesome. I trusted them, they trusted me. We trusted the coach and we trusted each other.”
McIntosh County Academy (26-6) got 11 points and seven rebounds from M.J. Quarterman, 11 points and seven rebounds from Jayden Ellis and 10 points and seven rebounds from Craig Battle Jr.
It was the fourth meeting of the year between the two teams. They split during the regular season and Savannah prevailed by three points in the region championship match.
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