Norcross boys win their first region championship in five years

DULUTH, GEORGIA – Region championships have escaped the Norcross boy’s basketball program in recent years.

Heading into Wednesday night’s region championship against Peachtree Ridge, the Blue Devils had lost their last three finals match-ups.

Looking to win their first title in five years, the Blue Devils dominated from start to finish and ran away with a 71-48 win over the Lions to claim the Region 7-AAAAAAA championship. It’s their first title since the 2017-18 season and it will give them a No. 1 seed for the upcoming state tournament.

“That’s the first one we’ve had in five years,” Norcross head coach Jesse McMillan said. “A lot of people don’t realize that. Our region has been so strong and we came up short a couple of years. So we had an opportunity for our seniors to do something that hasn’t been done through a cycle. We’re really excited about doing that this year.”

The win comes two weeks after the Blue Devils lost to the Lions 58-55 in a rather surprising fashion. In their first meeting of the season, the Blue Devils handed the Lions a similar loss to that of Wednesday night, 86-61.

After winning the rubber match, the Blue Devils proved it was the better team in Region 7 this season.

“Peachtree Ridge used to be in the region for several years and we’ve always had good rivalries,” McMillan said. “The fact that we split this year, there was a lot of emotion and a lot of energy on both sides. I was just pleased that our guys came out with a little bit of edge and weren’t just flying around without a purpose. We played with great discipline on both sides.”

The Blue Devils swarmed the Lions from the opening tip.

It took the Lions 5:44 to score their first points of the game thanks to some lockdown defense from the Blue Devils and some unfriendly bounces around the rim.

The Blue Devils only managed to score eight points during that stretch, but still held an 8-2 lead by the time the Lions got on the board with a layup.

McMillan credited their great start to the game to the game plan they worked on ahead of Wednesday night’s finals.

“Guys executed and they were disciplined on defense,” McMillan said. “We limited Peachtree Ridge’s ability to get to the paint and find their shooters, in the first half especially. And then we were able to build a lead and dictate how the game was played on both ends. That’s what we wanted to do and the guys executed it to a tee.”

By the end of the first quarter, the Blue Devils led 16-10.

Every basket that the Lions scored in the second quarter, the Blue Devils had an answer for it. That allowed the Blue Devils to keep the Lions at bay and slowly start to build upon their lead.

They took their first double-digit lead, 25-14 midway through the second quarter on a layup from Mier Panoam and that was the closest the Lions could get for the rest of the game.

The Blue Devils led by 35-24 at the half with Panoam responsible for 13 points.

The Lions put together their best quarter of the night in the third quarter, but the Blue Devils were even better.

Six different Blue Devils scored in the third quarter and their lead continued to grow. Panoam was responsible for giving the Blue Devils its first 20-point lead of the night when he grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it home to put them up 49-28 midway through the quarter.

The Blue Devils went on to out-score the Lions 23-17 in the quarter and held a commanding 58-41 lead heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, the Blue Devils never gave the Lions a single opportunity to make it a game down the stretch. They continued to outplay the Lions on both ends of the court and they were able to do so without Samarion Bond for a lot of it.

The senior played sparingly in the second half after suffering a minor injury right before halftime.

Panoam finished with a game-high 19 points while Toby Ojukwu (16 points ) and Lamariyon Jordan (15 points) joined him in double figures.

The Lions will settle for the No. 2 seed out of Region 7 and will still host a playoff game in the first round of the state playoffs early next week. Sophomore guard Connor Teasley led the Lions in scoring with 16 points while Rashad Dames chipped in with 12.

North Gwinnett 50, Berkmar 46 (Third-Place Game)

In the region’s third-place game, North Gwinnett defeated Berkmar 50-46. That gives the Bulldogs a No. 3 seed for the state playoffs. The Patriots will settle for the No. 4 seed.

Julian Walker scored eight of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter. Miles Clanton joined him in double figures with 11 points.