The Sandy Creek team gunning for its third consecutive state championship Wednesday is dramatically different from the past two.
Those teams — and most of the others during the successful tenure of coach Jon-Michael Nickerson — have featured a big man. There was 6-foot-10 Jabari Smith, a McDonald’s All-American who was the No. 3 draft pick by the Houston Rockets in 2022, and 6-7 Micah Smith, now a big contributor at Georgia Southern.
And while this year’s team has some height, most of its success has come closer to the ground. If the Patriots are going to become the first boys team to three-peat since Wilkinson County (Class A Public, 2017-19), most likely it will be the guards who are carrying the water.
“We don’t have an elite rim protector like Jabari or Micah, so we’ve really been focused on defensive positioning and making sure we’re as disciplined as possible,” Nickerson said. “And we have, I think, the best unit of guards in the state — in our classification for sure.”
The crew is led by Region 2-3A Player of the Year Jared White, a 6-foot-1 senior who Nickerson called “our engine.” White has above-average ability as a scorer, but is an elite on-ball defender. He is joined by junior Amari Latimer, a four-star football player being recruited by the likes of Ohio State. The 5-11 Latimer often takes on the job of guarding the other team’s best player — most of them taller — and was instrumental is slowing 6-foot-8 Jaden Priester of Cross Creek in the third-round victory.
Sandy Creek has been playing without all-region guard Jacobi Robinson, who has missed a month with ligament damage to his hand. There is an outside chance he could return for the title game.
No. 4-ranked Sandy Creek will play No. 1 Cedar Grove on Wednesday for the Class 3A championship at the Macon Coliseum. It is a rematch of the 2023 title game, when Sandy Creek broke through for its first state title.
Cedar Grove will challenge Sandy Creek’s lack of size. The Saints feature 6-foot-7 junior Manny Green (19.1 points) and 6-10 junior Javonte Floyd (10.7 points).
“We’ve played a lot of teams with good size,” Nickerson said. “We don’t have a ton of size ourselves, so it’s going to be a clash of styles. We’re smaller, we’re going to defend 94 feet and we’ve got to be really, really tough and keep the ball in front and make sure we rebound against their size.”
That sort of defense has been a trademark for Sandy Creek, which has won 20-plus games for eight consecutive seasons. The Patriots returned nine players from last year’s team, but only two had big-game experience and two others were rotational pieces. That left Nickerson unsure about what to expect.
“To be honest, I was not expecting this team to be in this position in the summer,” he said. “So we’re playing with house money right now. We’re pumped. With not having any star power and not having a dominant force every single night, I’ve just been going game-to-game.”
He has been pleased with the development of the roster and the balance that has emerged.
“Our best player could have a bad offensive night, and we could still win,” Nickerson said. “Because we have other strong players that can pick up the offensive production.”
But it would be nice to have another Jabari Smith, who remains in touch with the program. He watches the games on a livestream whenever possible and was texting Nickerson before the semifinals game against Windsor Forest.
“He definitely follows and stays in contact,” Nickerson said.
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