By any measuring stick it was a successful season for the Bryan County boys’ basketball team– yet there’s always a “what if”.

Bryan County (22-9) enjoyed its best season this century as it won its first state playoff game since 1998 and reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 1997. A narrow 52-49 loss to Greene County prevented it from earning a rematch against McIntosh County Academy in the Final Four.

The “what if” was would have the Redskins gone any further had not leading scorer Elijah Mincey not been lost to a season-ending knee injury against Savannah High in the last game of the regular season.

Coach Jason Napier’s team finished third in the Region 3A-DII race, quite an accomplishment considering the two teams ahead of them, Savannah and MCA, will play for the state championship 3 p.m. Friday afternoon at the Macon Centreplex. Five of the Redskins’ losses came to those two teams.

Napier turned in an outstanding coaching job in his first year at Bryan County as he maximized the talent he inherited. The Redskins were an up-and-down team the first half of the season. The second half was an entirely different story.

Following a Jan. 14 loss to McIntosh the Redskins were 10-6 but from that point on they played lights out, going 12-3. The losses came to Savannah, McIntosh and Greene County by a total of 10 points.

Napier loses six seniors: Mincey and fellow all-region picks Mike Smith and Chris Winfree along with Jadon Odum, Estavion Rivera and Allen Williams.

The future, Napier said, is bright.

“This team is now part of Bryan County basketball history,” Napier said. “But with a large talented underclassmen group combined with several rising ninth graders from a middle school program that just won the region championship I would say the future looks very bright.”

 The last time the middle school won the region championship was when the current seniors were eighth-graders. Another distinction for this senior class was that they made the state playoffs four consecutive years, another first for Redskins basketball.

Napier is a strong believer in player development and he had a 17-game schedule for his junior varsity team. Ger’Bravion Collins will lead the returnees along with fellow junior Darius Edwards. Sophomore Aaden Frederick was a force off the bench down the stretch.

Other varsity returnees include junior Cayron Rawls who was a spot starter and freshmen Breaden Sharpen and Gerome Lee.  

“I’m very proud of the players and the coaches for their attitude, effort, dedication and for embracing our team philosophy,” said Napier who coached in Effingham County for 25 years before coming to Bryan County. “The boys did a great job coming together and overcoming Elijah’s absence.

“I believe that was probably the theme for this season:  overcoming adversity,” Napier said. “They overcame their head coach having back surgery in the middle of the season, overcame injuries to several players as well as embracing a new coach with a brand-new system.”

The Redskins were still a bit of an unknown quantity entering the state playoffs after finishing third in the region tournament and now playing without Mincey.

However, they breezed past Montgomery County, 73-45, in the opener and edged a top 10 team in Mount Zion, 58-57, before coming up short against Greene County, 52-49.

“At Montgomery County the players seemed very relaxed and had a business-like approach,” Napier said. “They had a lot of confidence going into the game and Ger’Bravion got on fire and scored 21 points. We had a size advantage and were able to drive the ball which opened up wide open jump shots.”

Collins scored all of his points off three-pointers:  he had six convention treys and connected on a one-and. Edwards had 13 points and Smith added 11.

The game at Mount Zion saw the Redskins play some of their best basketball of the season, Napier said. Up 33-20 at the half the Redskins had seven players score with Smith and Jadon Odum getting 12 each and Winfree nine.

Mount Zion got back into the game at the foul line, making 13 free throws in the fourth quarter. Smith, not an especially good free throw shooter, was clutch down the stretch as he made all four of his free throw attempts to seal the win.

 Bryan County had a 10-point lead on Greene County in the second half but the fourth quarter proved to be fatal as it could score only seven points. Collins and Frederick had 12 points each.