North Oconee boys first Titan basketball program to make a GHSA state championship game
The 2024 North Oconee boys basketball team is going where no other Titan basketball team has gone before: the Georgia High School Association state championship.
"We've just taken it one game at a time, just trying to keep it as normal as possible," head coach Rick Rasmussen said. "That's the most important thing; stick with your routines and do what you do and not change much, honestly. We're trying, that is our goal is to try. We're about to go have another practice and we got some things we'll be doing for the opponent, but you know, it's business as usual."
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On Wednesday, they battle their final boss: Atlanta-based private, religious school Holy Innocents (26-6).
"They've got a lot of talent and recruits, so to speak," Rasmussen said. "They've got the five-star player Caleb Wilson, who's really talented and has an offer from North Carolina. They've got another kid who's a wing who has offers from Georgia Tech and (maybe) Ole Miss, his name's Devin Hutcherson. So, they've got two Division I super talents for players and a lot of people think they're the favorites. We're the underdog, in a way."
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The one-seeded Titans have had a tremendous run since the new year began, going on an undefeated 18-game win streak. They caught the home-team bid to their first ever title contest over the weekend when they defeated Baldwin by a singular point, 65-64, in the final seconds of the Class AAAA semifinals.
The game, which was played at Fort Valley State University, was a violent back-and-forth battle, Rasmussen explained. They had led by 10 or 12 points at one moment in time, and then they blinked, and Baldwin had gone up seven or eight points to push the Titans down five with a minute left in regulation.
"They got hot and made some shots, to their credit," Rasmussen said. "We just stayed composed and cut into the lead ... and we finished the game on a 6-0 run. We had some pretty clutch buckets down the stretch.
"Byrd Carter had been a little quiet and then he got hot in the fourth quarter at eight points and Khamari Brooks had a great game. We executed down the stretch and [Brooks] had a big putback. Justin Wise missed a three pointer and Khamari went inside and got an offensive rebound, got blocked on the first attempt and stayed with it and he made a putback over the front of the rim with two seconds to go, which gave us the lead. It was really exciting down to the wire."
Baldwin had attempted a comeback in those final two seconds, Rasmussen said, calling a timeout as Brooks' bucket slipped through the net, but their long shot attempt airballed as the buzzer rang.
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The Titans head into the championships with a 29-3 overall record, undefeated 17-0 at home, and 13-1 in their classification with their first region title. Whether win or loss on Wednesday, the boys have made history that will forever withstand the test of time in Bogart. They're the first roster to accomplish this feat, and the first they'll always be.
"This has been amazing," Rasmussen said. "It's a great school and I think the potential had always been there. It's great to see it happen, it's a real blessing. We're just proud, as a program and as a coaching staff, we're proud of our players. We've got a great, supportive administration that's behind us, and it's a great recipe for success. No better time than now to bring home the first state title in [North Oconee] basketball history."
Sara Tidwell covers Athens-area high school sports and University of Georgia athletics for The Athens Banner-Herald. Contact her at stidwell@gannett.com and follow her @saramtidwell on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: North Oconee to face Atlanta-based school in GHSA Class 4A finals
