When Dwon Odom stole a poorly delivered pass at halfcourt and drove unmolested for an emphatic slam dunk, it became obvious that the St. Francis Knights were going to have a great afternoon.
That basket – Odom’s third in the first two-plus minutes – gave St. Francis an 8-0 lead, which it stretched to 12-0 before Greenforest was able to score. That adrenaline-laced start was more than enough to propel St. Francis to a 76-55 win in the Class A Private classification and help the Knights successfully defend their state championship at the Macon Coliseum.
“This feels even better because I’m a senior,” Odom said. “I’m enjoying it with my senior friends and everybody on the team and I’m just glad I could send the team out with another state championship.”
It was the fourth state title for Drew Catlett’s team, which also won it all in 2014 and 2015. St. Francis (29-3) has only one loss to a Georgia team, that by three points to Class AAAAAAA finalist Wheeler. The Knights finished the season with a 14-game winning streak.
Odom, who has signed with Xavier, wound up with 27 points, going 10-for-13 from the field, with nine assists and four assists, one of them to set up an alley-oop monster dunk from Jusuan Holt.
“We are 109-17 over the last four years and I might be able to pick two games where he didn’t play hard,” Catlett said. “That’s his usual. He’s an aggressive player, attack mode, ultra-competitive guy. That’s just the way he plays.”
Holt, a junior four-star recruit who already has offers from Georgia Tech and Georgia, scored 11 points and had seven rebounds. Chase Ellis had 14 points and seven rebounds, Seth Hubbard added 12 points and six rebounds, and Jordan Brown scored 10.
Greenforest (20-10) was led by Drexel signee Lamar Oden Jr. with 21 points and eight rebounds. Chase Cromier added 11 points and Christian Fussell had 10 points and eight rebounds.
St. Francis led 17-9 after one quarter and stretched the lead to 34-20 at halftime.
“That start was good for us because then I can go small and make them guard us man-to-man,” Catlett said. “If they get the lead, they can pack the zone and it slows the game down, so getting off to a good start like that really helped us.”
The Knights led by 21 in the third quarter before Greenforest rallied behind three consecutive 3-pointers to cut the lead to 50-36.
But the Eagles never got any closer and a 11-0 run by St. Francis – punctuated by a dipsy-doodle dunk by Odom -- started late in the third quarter and carried over into the fourth quarter to quell any hopes of a comeback.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Odom said. “We knew it was going to be tough the whole way. As long as we stay together as a team and play together, we knew what we could do.”
St. Francis (76): Dwon Odom 27, Jusaun Holt 11, Seth Hubbard 12, Kai Simmons 2, Chase Ellis 14, Jordan Brown.
Greenforest (55): Jalen Cook 6, Florian Tenebay 5, Christian Fussell 10, Lamar Oden Jr. 21, Chase Cromier 11, Eric Smith 2.
About the Author
