Admittedly Savannah High is not the same team which won the Class A-DII state basketball championship last year, but any time you can beat the Blue Jackets it’s a feather in your cap.
If there’s a blueblood team in Region 3A-DII its Savannah (12-8, 6-4) so when Bryan County defeated the Blue Jackets, 72-65, last Friday to sweep the season series it validated the Redskins (9-10, 7-5) as a team to be reckoned with come region tournament time.
In becoming the only region team to beat Savannah twice – the Blue Jackets have already beaten its remaining region opponents at least once – Bryan County has now won six of its last seven games.
The Redskins played at region leader Screven County (12-7, 8-3) on Tuesday night, the first of three straight road games. Bryan County is at ECI on Friday night and Jenkins next Tuesday before closing regular season play at home against Claxton on Friday.
Coach Jason Napier, while obviously happy with the win over Savannah, was especially pleased with what he saw out of his team mentally and from his bench as Redskins starters battled foul trouble.
“We played through some adversity without losing it mentally,” Napier said. “We played a lot more level-headed in times of stress. In times of adversity, we weathered the storm.
“Basketball is a game of runs and they had their runs but we would stick it,” Napier said. “The thing that happened tonight that was really, really good that we hadn’t been able to do this year is we had runs and they had runs but we didn’t let their runs overtake us.”
Bryan County never trailed in the game which was tied twice, the last time at 28-28 with 2:01 left in the first half. Ger'bravion Collins, however, hit a pair of free throws seven seconds later and Darius Edwards followed with a steal and layup to give the Redskins the lead for good.
Edwards had a sensational night as he scored 32 points, the fourth time this season he has eclipsed the 30-point mark, and made 13 of 16 foul shots in the process. Cayden Rawls scored 15, Collins added 13 and Aaden Frederick added 10.
“I think Darius is the best player in the region, I really do,” Napier said. “I think the stats will prove it. He’s pretty good.”
With Rawls, Frederick and Jordan Carlos all registering four personal fouls, a quartet of sophomores gave Napier the much-needed valuable minutes he’s been looking for all season.
“We played Jamaryian (Cosey), Braeden (Sharpe), Mari (Green) and Braylan (Wright),” Napier said. “They gave us some good minutes and saved us some fouls. That was really big and important. That’s what tonight’s win was all about.”
Bryan County, up 36-32 at the half, led by 11 points, 47-36, midway through the third only to see the Blue Jackets rally to cut it to 51-46 after three. However, the Redskins scored the first five points of the fourth with Edwards hitting a pair of free throws and Collins burying a 3-pointer.
In the fourth quarter Edwards made eight of 10 free throws, Rawls had seven points and Collins had a pair of 3-pointers as the Redskins refused to fold.