PEMBROKE -- Bryan County’s surprising boys’ basketball season and a turnaround year by the girls saw coaches Brent Anderson and Mario Mincey along with 10 of their players, honored by Region 3A Public coaches.
Anderson was named the boys Coach of the Year after guiding the Redskins to a 20-6 record and a No. 3 seed in the GHSA Class 3A Public state tournament where they will play at Mitchell County on Wednesday night.
Bryan County won the regular season region race in posting its first winning season since 2015 and only the second this century. This will be the school’s first playoff appearance since 2016.
Mincey was named Co-Coach of the Year for the girls as the Redskins are 22-5 going into Tuesday night’s state playoff game at Terrell County. This is the fifth time in the last six seasons Bryan County has won 20 or more games. In last year’s COVID wracked season it was 9-12.
Freshman guard Elijah Mincey made it a clean sweep of top honors for the boys as he was named Player of the Year. Mincey averaged 16 points per game and set what is believed to be a school single game record for freshmen with 40 points against Jenkins County. He also had 32 points against East Laurens and 31 against Metter.
“If any freshman has done that no one here knows about it,” Anderson said of the outburst against the War Eagles which included the game winner with 26 seconds to play.
Joining Mincey on the first team was junior point guard Jamal Campbell. Second team picks were sophomore Tanner Ennis and junior Devontae Bowers. Jordan Flannel and sixth-man Sean Kelly Hill were honorable mention.
Senior guards Niyah Shuman and Anderia Jackson were first team selections on the girl’s team, junior Kenzie Stucker was second team and freshman Ashanti Brown was honorable mention.
Going into the season expectations were modest for the boys. Anderson admitted 10 wins and a state playoff berth were the goals after going 4-14, 0-26 and 1-23 in the previous three seasons.
Instead, the Redskins became one of the feel-good stories of the year as they started strong and kept, as Campbell said, the throttle down. Research shows their 16-game improvement is the best in the state in Class A.
With nine freshmen on the roster the girls were also a bit of an unknown although Shuman, Jackson and Stucker were all experienced. Brown gave them a physical presence and was one of the most improved players in the region by the end of the season.
Shuman and Stucker each averaged 13 points per game and Jackson 10 while Brown wound up averaging 13 rebounds per outing.
Mincey is in his 15th season, and this is his ninth playoff team. His overall record at Bryan County is 244-152. Seven of his teams have won 20 or more games including the 2019 team which was 26-3 in setting a school record for wins.