When it comes to boy’s basketball these days, Windsor Forest and Johnson are familiar, but they won’t ever be accused of being friendly on the hardwood. The two Savannah Region 3-3A rivals did battle for a second time this season, as the Class 3A No. 3 Knights hosted the No. 4 Atom Smashers in a much-anticipated second installment Tuesday, Jan. 26 at Windsor.
Windsor took its first lead of the game with 3:55 remaining in the fourth quarter at 59-57, and the Knights never looked back, winning 69-65 over its Region 3-3A rivals in a back-and-forth affair on Savannah’s southside.
Johnson’s sagging 1-3-1 defense seemed to have Windsor off-balance to begin the game. The visitors opened with an electric 10-0 run fueled as much on the defensive end as the offensive side. WF didn’t score until four minutes into the game and didn’t make its first shot from the field until Mike Cabellero’s layup with 3:34 left in the opening quarter.
Early in the second stanza, Johnson would settle into its “diamond press” after the zone was solved by the Knights.
The Atom Smashers led 20-10 after one and 29-13 midway through the second, but the 16-point margin was as wide as Johnson could push it. Behind timely 3’s from senior star Shamar Norman, Windsor closed the half on a 16-6 run and Johnson’s lead was trimmed to 35-29 at the break.
Perhaps an even tougher pill to swallow for SCJ faithful, the visitors held a 54-40 lead with 2:10 to go in the third quarter -- 75 seconds later, it was just a 54-47 Johnson lead and it remained tight for the remainder.
Windsor was responsible for Johnson’s lone loss of the season entering the contest, and head coach Aaron Clark’s squad had bested Johnson in three of the last four meetings between the two schools dating back to December, 2019.
The Knights handled SCJ on Jan. 9 by a score of 74-52. Windsor’s only setback within Region 3-3A came last week when it was forced to forfeit a scheduled game against Southeast Bulloch after SEB contacted GHSA about Windsor wanting to reschedule the game due to its concerns with traveling to SEB with COVID protocols.
Johnson’s star Emondre Bowles (22.2 points per game, second in Class 3A entering play Jan. 26) dueled with Windsor’s terrific tandem of Norman (21.0, third) and D’Ante Bass (15.6, 10th) throughout, but it was Windsor’s pair which ultimately prevailed.
The Bass and Norman duo combined to score 19 of Windsor’s 22 points in the third quarter to set the tone for the fourth.
At times, Bass seemed to be able to take over on both ends, as the junior wing with offers from Georgia, Xavier and Georgetown extended defense beyond the arc and was able to score on slashing drives through the SCJ defense. He scored 22 points and was an impact player down the stretch before fouling out late. It was a Bass 3-ball which tied the game at 57-57 with just over five minutes to play and it came off a well-placed swing pass from his sidekick Norman.
Norman scored a steady 16 points and Ray Williams added nine for WF.
Johnson got 16 points from Bowles, and 13 apiece from Antonio Baker and Ted Hurst. The Atom Smashers were outscored 18-9 in the fourth, and managed to go just 2-for-9 from the charity stripe in the money quarter.
The two teams aren’t scheduled to meet again, but a date in the Region Championship seems like a safe bet. The Region 3-3A tournament begins the week of Monday, Feb. 15 with the GHSA state playoffs beginning on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 across the state.
SCJ — 20 - 15 - 21 - 9 — 65
WF — 10 - 19 - 22 - 18 — 69
HALFTIME — SCJ, 35-29.
RECORDS — SCJ 11-2, 4-2 Region 3-3A; WF 7-2, 6-1 Region 3-3A.
Follow Travis on Twitter @JaudonSports and contact him at travisLjaudon@gmail.com.
Photo by DWASHAWN the Photographer
