Savannah High’s boys basketball team has made no secret about its expectations this postseason: Get back to the state championship game and this time win it, for the first time in 15 years. If the Dodge County Indians thought they would catch the Blue Jackets looking ahead Saturday, chances are they wound up disappointed.
Savannah was dealt an adequate test through the first three quarters, but in the final period, the Blue Jackets used their superior size, depth and defensive prowess to pull away for a 71-42 victory in the second round of the GHSA Class AAA playoffs.
Savannah (26-3) sealed its third straight appearance in the Elite Eight and will host Region 3 No. 2 seed Washington County on Wednesday in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m.
“At this point, it’s all about surviving and advancing, and we did that tonight,” said Savannah coach Tim Jordan, whose team won its 10th straight contest. “At this point, anyone can beat you if you have an off night. You have to raise your intensity, and we picked ours up on defense in the second half tonight.”
With the game tied at 4 halfway through the first quarter, Jovante Spivey put the Blue Jackets up for good with a little runner in the free throw lane and then stole a pass and fed Jamal Norman for a thunderous, two-handed slam. Norman ripped a long 3-pointer on the Jackets’ next trip down the floor to make it 11-4.
The margin of Savannah’s lead hovered around there for the rest of the first half with the Blue Jackets taking a 34-26 advantage into the break.
“We went hard at it all night,” said Norman, a junior forward who led the Jackets with 25 points. “We knew if we jumped ahead and focused on the state championship game, we probably wouldn’t leave here with a win.”
Dodge County (18-10) continued to hang around in the third quarter, as Justice Burch brought the Indians to within six points at 37-31 after converting a three-point play. But Dodge suffered a setback, and the Blue Jackets caught a break when Burch, who led the team with 14 points, fouled out late in the third, thus eliminating any rhythm the Indians tried to establish.
“I told the guys that probably 90 percent of what they do offensively revolves around (Burch), and once we got him in foul trouble early, and he had to leave the game, that was big for us, and we were able to take control,” Jordan said.
After Lorenzo McClinton’s short jumper pulled the Indians within eight points with 53 seconds left in the third, Dodge did not score again until a McClinton free throw with 4:01 remaining in the game.
In that time, the Blue Jackets tore off a 14-0 stretch to put it away, capped off by a Chris Cokley lay-in on an assist from Spivey to make it 59-37. The Indians, who managed just five points in the final period, scored their only field goal in the fourth quarter on a Casey Wilcox jumper with 1:07 to go.
“Defense was the key tonight,” Norman said. “Like coach told us, (Dodge) felt pretty good about themselves still being in the game with a chance to win at halftime and into the third quarter. We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that can play good defense, and we were able to shut it down in the second half.”
Jordan was also impressed with his team’s defensive effort, which pressured and forced the Indians into committing 29 turnovers.
“We’re more of a defensive team anyway,” Jordan said. “I thought we did a great job of interrupting them and forcing them into bad decisions, which led to hurried shots and turnovers. That’s the kind of effort we’re looking for every game, and we hope it continues to pay off for us.”
A win on Wednesday would catapult Savannah into the Class AAA semifinals, which conveniently for the Blue Jackets, will be played in Savannah at Armstrong Atlantic.
“Teams that have been this deep before tend to handle the pressure better than teams who haven’t been here, and for us, we’ve been here before,” Jordan said. “And as long as we’re playing at home, we’ll take our chances with just about anyone.”
DODGE COUNTY (42)
Burch 14, McClinton 9, Howard 9, Jackson 4, Brown 2, Wilcox 2, Graham 2.
SAVANNAH HIGH (71)
Norman 25, Cokley 14, Spivey 11, Williams 8, Lawton 4, Brown 4, Rivers 2, Mitchell 2, Chisholm 1.
Halftime—SHS 34-26. Records—Dodge 18-10, SHS 26-3.