Basketball Defends State Championship

Our boys varsity basketball team made a name for itself during the 2016-2017 season, dominating during the season and earning the state title - and this past year, they did it again. In addition to their undefeated regular season, the Cougars took on the best teams in the state, forcing unstoppable McEachern into overtime and challenging state powerhouse Norcross High. The Holy Spirit Prep basketball program has put our student athletes on the map for recruitment to training programs and college ball.

Breaking Out onto the National Scene

The 2017-18 season started off strong with two early wins ahead of five tournaments they played throughout the season. At the post-Thanksgiving Hard in the Paint Tournament, the boys competed against nationally-ranked McEachern High School. The team held their own, and were able to close the point gap this year from 13 points to 9 points, with a final score of 60-69.

During the Christmas break, the players traveled to several holiday tournaments including the Hawks-Naismith Holiday Classic where they took on Georgia powerhouse Norcross High School, losing by 10 points. The boys redeemed themselves at the Tournament of Champions, winning three of the four contests. They suffered a loss to Paul VI High out of Fairfax, Virginia, but dominated over Lower Richland (South Carolina), Jonesboro, and Wheeler.

At the start of January, the boys participated in the Sun Hoops Tournament where they defeated South Miami and Vanguard. Less than two weeks later on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the team played the headliner game of the Dream Challenge Tournament against Westside High out of Macon.

It was a rough start in the first half, with Westside keeping a regular 10-point lead to halftime. The second half, described by one HSP parent as “the best game of high school basketball I have ever seen,” was an entirely different game, with

Anthony Edwards scoring 37 points by himself. The game closed with HSP up 74-64.

A Championship Rematch

After breezing through a few more regular season games and the regional tournament, the boys were headed to the GISA state championship yet again. They crushed Valwood in the semi-final game with a score of 62-33, sending them to a repeat of last year’s state championship game: Holy Spirit Prep vs. The Heritage School, Newnan. “I knew that [Heritage] would come into this rematch strong, but we were stronger,” senior Georgii Maslennikov said.

The game started rather sluggishly, and our boys fell behind 17-9 by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, they started to outscore Heritage 17-5 to take a 26-22 lead at halftime. Halfway through the third quarter, Heritage tied the game 30-30 and took a brief lead of 34-32, but it did not last long. Our boys scored the final eight points of the quarter and held a 40-34 lead as the two teams entered the final quarter.

Going into the fourth quarter, the boys knew they had to ramp up their defense to maintain the lead, which forced several Heritage turnovers. Our boys took the first double-digit lead when center Georgii Maslennikov—who now plays for DePaul—made a basket to give them a 51-40 lead with 3:19 left in the game. Heritage would mount a comeback, but they never could overtake the defending champs. Maslennikov led the team with 20 points, followed by Michaiah Jeremiah with 12 points. Anthony Edwards and Kamani Johnson also contributed 9 and 8 points, respectively.

The state victory was a culmination of a season their coaches have described as the toughest schedule in Georgia basketball. “I was a little anxious before the game, but winning was a relief,” senior Kamani Johnson said. “With the championship being my last game, it all felt surreal.” Johnson now plays basketball for the University of Arkansas Little Rock.

For the first time, the Lady Cougars basketball team blazed a trail through the state tournament to make a claim for the state title in the championship game where they ended their season as the state-runner up. The ladies dominated their regular-season games and proved themselves at the Jag Challenge and St. Pius Christmas Classic tournaments. They finished their season with a 23-4 record.