Like the tortoise and the hare—or should it be the hare and the tortoise— it’s not necessarily how you start but how you finish. Bryan County’s boys basketball team was definitely the tortoise when it faced off against Lake Oconee County Academy— a charter school in Greensboro playing its ninth season of basketball— but it finished like a hare in posting a 58-44 win over the Titans (9-2) Friday in the first game of a tripleheader at Savannah Christian.
Unfortunately, playing 28 hours later at Vidalia the Redskins (7-4) started slowly and finished slowly in dropping a 6049 decision to the Indians (10-2). Vidalia led 19-12 after the first quarter but Bryan County, looking for its first win over the Indians since 2015, got 17 points from Ger’bravion Collins and battled back to take a 47-46 lead going into the fourth quarter only to get outscored 15-3. Poor free throw shooting, which has plagued the Redskins all season, was costly as they made only one of seven attempts while going 11-for-22 for the game. Against LOA they were 13-24.
Against Lake Oconee Academy the Redskins found themselves trailing by 13 points, 21-8, two minutes into the second quarter and they were still 11 behind, with 3:30 prior to halftime before things began to click.
Coach Jason Napier felt playing at 4:30 p.m., during the holiday break and before a sparse gathering of about 15 fans at the start of the game that included new Nevada Las Vegas football coach Dan Mullen contributed to his team’s slow start.
Mullen, a former head coach at Florida and Mississippi State and most recently an analyst with ESPN, was hired by the Rebels job on Dec. 12. Presumably, Mullen was in Savannah recruiting but he also has a connection to Lake Oconee Academy where he did some volunteer work with the football program in 2022 after being fired by Florida.
Former Richmond Hill quarterback standout Nick Fitzgerald, who set the SEC record for rushing yards by a quarterback, was recruited and coached by Mullen at Mississippi State.
“It’s the holidays,” Napier said. “I had to get on them before the game in here (locker room). It’s so hard. Kids are so routine oriented, going to school, practice, having games, that kind of stuff. Then that routine gets disrupted.
“It showed once we got out there,” Napier said.
“We weren’t focused. We were trying to manufacture focus, discipline, energy.
“I told them before we went out there that there was no crowd we had to manufacture. That’s what mature teams do. If we’re going to be a state caliber team, we have to be internal about things, create our own energy and be able to go out and play and not worry about energy from the crowd.”
The Redskins were obviously flat at the outset against a Titans team that started out hot and showed no signs of letting up as it jumped out to a 15-4 lead.
At that point, with two minutes left in the quarter, Napier pulled all of his starters except Elijah Mincey, a move which he felt paid dividends.
“I think the biggest thing was when the second group came in and actually cut into the deficit,” Napier said. “They wound up scoring six or seven points and did the same thing in the third quarter. They held their own and it gave the other guys a chance to gain their focus.”
Mike Smith, one of the hottest players in Region 3A-DII, continued his excellent play as he scored 18 points despite not scoring in the first quarter. Mincey scored 12 and he also was scoreless in the opening quarter. Darius Edwards added nine.
Bryan County outscored LOA 17-10 in the second quarter with Mincey getting and Smith five. It closed the quarter with a 12-3 run over the final three minutes to cut the deficit to 27-25 at the half.
Mincey gave his team its first lead when he scored on a one-and to make it 28-27 with 6:29 on the clock. After the Titans tied it at 30-30 Smith drilled the Redskins’ lone 3-pointer of the game for a 33-30 lead which they never relinquished.
Up by five, 41-36, to start the fourth Mincey hit back-to-back buckets and from there on it was all Redskins as the Titans never got closer than eight points.