North Oconee tops Holy Innocents for Georgia AAAA boys basketball state title

Carter Byrd led North Oconee with 20 points in the GHSA state championship game

Gary Adornato | Mar 6, 2024

MACON, GEORGIA – Freshman Justin Wise drained three consecutive three pointers to fuel a 14-0 third quarter run for North Oconee and the Titans survived a late run by Holy Innocents to capture a 65-60 victory in the GHSA Boys Basketball AAAA state championship game at the Macon Centerplex, Thursday night.

It was the first state title for North Oconee.

Despite the big third quarter run, which stakde the Titans to 44-33 lead, Holy Innocents battled back behind Caleb Wilson and got within three points four different times, but North Oconee made just enough free throws at the end, including four by JP Payne and two by Khamari Brooks, to hold onto the lead.

The 2024 GHSA AAAA Boys Basketball State Champion North Oconee Titans. — The 2024 GHSA AAAA Boys Basketball State Champion North Oconee Titans

Wilson led all scorers with 26 points and his heroic effort included 18 rebounds and 3 assists. Devin Hutcherson also had a huge double-double for the Bears, scoring 23 points and collecting 13 rebounds.

Carter Byrd paced the champions with 20 points as he connected on 4-of-8 free throw attempts. Justin Wise added 19 points for the Titans and Khamari Brooks score 14.

Published Mar 6, 2024

GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.