Coach Chris Turner thrust his arms in the air as the clock ticked down to :00, sealing the deal on a state basketball championship for Brunswick High School. The Pirates defeated Allatoona, 49-32, at the Macon Centreplex on March 6 to win the Georgia Class AAAAA title in a game broadcast on Georgia Public Television throughout the state.
The Pirates were once again led by Region 3-AAAAA Player of the Year and In the Game February cover athlete Roger Davis, who had a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Davis was a force in the post, keeping Allatoona out of the paint all night. Kymani Dunham, a sophomore, followed with 14 points and 10 boards.
Allatoona High School, out of Acworth, Georgia (northwest of Atlanta), made it to the title game by defeating Warner Robins in the final four by 23 points. Usually averaging 61 points per game, the Buccaneers just could not penetrate the Brunswick defense and lost the rebounding battle to the Pirates’ big front of senior Jabril Heck, Dunham and Davis.
Brunswick got off to a strong start in the championship game and never looked back. They had a 10-point lead after the first quarter, but slowed in the second to maintain a five point 22-17 lead at halftime. The Pirates looked unstoppable in the third quarter, outscoring the Buccaneers 16-3 to take an 18-point lead. At one point in the fourth quarter, Brunswick had a 23-point advantage, and with less than 2:00 to play, Coach Turner allowed his starters to come out of the game to a thunderous applause from the Pirate faithful who had traveled to Macon to see history in the making with the 17-point win.
The Pirates set school records with 29 victories and only two losses on the season. They lost their season opener to a strong Johnson High of Savannah.
“It was our first game of the season, and it was Johnson’s fifth,” Davis said. “The football guys were just getting to the court, so we didn’t have a chance to get our timing together.”
The team pulled itself together and went on a tear through December with their only other loss of the season coming at the hands of Savannah High by a single point in the Memorial Health Holiday Classic. But it was a week later, at the Tift County McDonald’s Invitational tournament when the team started to realize it had a shot at winning the state title.
“We began to gel as a team, and we started to trust one another,” Davis said. “Playing a lot of close games early on really helped us later in the year.”
The Pirates were undefeated in Region 3-AAAAA and won the regular season title. They then downed the Coffee County Trojans, 73-50, to win the region tournament. They made it through the first three rounds of the state playoffs before facing a tough Cedar Shoals team that took them down to the wire before succumbing by one point.
It is the first state title in any team sport for Brunswick High. The Pirates’ girls basketball team finished the season 28-1, falling to eventual state champion Stephenson in the second round.
SE-SF-0315-Bwk State Champs
Brunswick basketball
By Rob Asbell
Brunswick Pirates Win State
