A state basketball trophy is guaranteed to be coming back to Savannah tonight, it’s just a question of which team takes it home — as neighborhood rivals Savannah High and Johnson meet for the fourth time this season with the GHSA Class AAA title on the line in Macon.
The Blue Jackets and the Atom Smashers are set to tip off at 4:45 p.m. at the Macon Centreplex.
This is just the second time in state tournament history that two teams from Savannah are meeting in a championship game.
The last time was in March of 1968, when Johnson edged Beach 68-65 in Atlanta. The pages of the Savannah Evening Press were filled with stories of the war in Vietnam, while sports coverage included stories about Frank Robinson’s contract dispute with the Orioles, a big Joe Frazier fight at Madison Square Garden and a feature on LSU basketball phenom “Pistol” Pete Maravich.
But the Johnson-Beach matchup was big news. Jerry Dyer covered the story for the Press filling in readers about the exploits of Edward Daniels and 6-foot-8 Joby Wright, two stars on coach John Myles’ Atom Smasher squad. Daniels scored 23 points in the win over Beach and was named tournament MVP. Wright was an All-Tournament selection along with Larry Rivers, Andre Knowles and David Hall for Beach, who played for the legendary Russell Ellington.
Dyers dispatch from Atlanta breathlessly describe the down-to-the wire win for Johnson, in front of 6,500 “frantic” fans at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
“Little Lawrence Mosely, a 5-foot-9 midget on a floor of towering men, coolly and calmly sank two free throws with one second left to ice the game for the Atom Smashers,” Dyer wrote in his game story.
So who will be the hero when Savannah High and Johnson meet today? It’s anyone’s guess as a pair of teams with contrasting styles meet for the fourth time this season.
Defensive-minded Savannah won the first meeting in December, and the run-and-gun Atom Smashers came back to take the second in a January matchup. The Blue Jackets regained the upper hand with an impressive performance to win the Region 1-AAA tournament title last month.
Last year, playing up two enrollment divisions in Class AAAAA, the Blue Jackets (28-3) made a remarkable run to the state final, where they lost to Milton. Johnson lost in the first round of the Class AAAAA playoffs.
Savannah High’s star junior Chris Cokley, a 6-foot-8 center, went down with a concussion after a scary fall in a quarterfinal win over Buford on Feb. 27. Cokley’s condition has been steadily improving, but his status could be a game-time decision.
“We all want Chris to play,” Johnson coach Utaff Gordon said. “I know coach Jordan wants it, and the fans want both teams to be at full strength across the board. We want to see who can win it at their best.”
If Cokley has to sit, Josh Young and Tyreese Rivers will fill the void in the post for the Blue Jackets. In the semifinal win over Buford, junior star Jamal Norman led the Blue Jackets with 16 points, while captain Jovante Spivey added 14. Senior point guard Jason Lawton, who has stepped up his game in the postseason, continued to make an impact with 10 points.
“There have been a lot of distractions this week, so we’ve been just trying to take it day by day,” Spivey said. “We’ve been staying focused by practicing and working on what we need to do to keep our chemistry going. We’re going to need to rebound well, go inside to out and keep the tempo up to win it.”
The Blue Jackets’ bread and butter is their defense, and it’s a sure bet that Savannah will keep the pressure up on a Johnson offense that runs a high school version of the old Laker’s Showtime.
Johnson (24-6) dusted North Hall by 22 in the semifinals as guards Greg Mortimer (20 points) and Tim Quarterman (18 points) led the break, as they have all year.
“We were rooting for Johnson to win, because now either way — the championship is coming home to Savannah,” Norman said. “We feel good about the game because we have the experience of playing in the final last year. Now we have another chance to accomplish our goal.
“We know Johnson wants revenge after we won the regional tournament, they are going to come back hard,” Norman said. “We know each other well, that helps and it hurts since they know us, too. Their offense is going to run through Tim (Quarterman), so we’re going to have to play great defense and make our free throws to win this game.”
Johnson’s standout big man, Saadiq Muhammad, averaging about 10 points per game, said it’s important for the Atom Smashers to set the tone for the game.
“We can’t be walking the ball up the court,” Muhammad said. “We need to play our style and at our tempo.”
With a week of hype leading up to the game, both teams can’t wait to finally tip off.
“We’ve had a lot of prep for this game and we’ve played a lot of good games in the playoffs,” Quarterman said. “But there’s not much more to say, there’s no more talking. We’re ready to play ball. This is the game that matters.”
Forty-five years ago, when Johnson beat Beach there wasn’t Twitter or any other type of social media to add to the buildup before the game. But the importance to a basketball town like Savannah was never questioned.
The Savannah Evening Press was there to greet the Atom Smashers upon their return from Atlanta at the Central of Georgia Railroad yard Sunday night, along with 4,000 “screaming, chanting fans.”
It should be a similar scene today when the champion is crowned at the Macon Centreplex.
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IF YOU GO
Savannah High vs. Johnson
What: Class AAA state championship game
When: 4:45 p.m. today
Where: Macon Centreplex, Macon
TV: Georgia Public Broadcasting (WVAN locally)