Shiloh boys advance to first Elite 8, eliminate Rockdale

SNELLVILLE, Ga. - Not even the return and subsequent sharpshooting of Jalen Jordan was enough for the Rockdale basketball team on Saturday.

Josh Okogie scored 17 points to lead three in double figures as Shiloh won 55-45 in a Class AAAAAA round of 16 game.

Shiloh (26-3), which went unbeaten in securing the Region 8 title, advanced to the first Elite 8 in school history, while Rockdale was eliminated prior to the state quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season.

Jordan, a junior guard, was hit with two technical fouls and an ejection during Rockdale’s win over Newton in the Region 2 semifinals February 13 and as a result served a two-game suspension. Back after missing the Bulldogs’ region final loss to Tucker and last week’s state tournament victory over Valdosta, Jordan led all scorers with 21 points. He hit a pair of 3-pointers and had a nice head fake and pull-up jumper at the 4:19 mark of the third that gave Rockdale a 33-31 lead.

Very little went the Bulldogs way, though over the final quarter and a half of the game.

Shiloh closed the third on a 10-0 run as Okogie had a three-point play and another lay-up off a feed from Malik Chandler and Chandler hit a three of his own and it was a 41-33 game heading to the fourth.

Rockdale got as close as six points on two occasions in the final period. First, when Connor Ferrell, who ended up playing his final game in a Rockdale uniform, hit a short jumper with 5 1/2 minutes to go and the last of which came when Jordan hit a tricky, baseline runner to cut the deficit to 46-39 with 4:30 left.

Dwayne Brown scored 12 points and Ferrell added seven for the Conyers school, which finished 21-8.

Shiloh also had a strong finish to the second quarter, allowing the hosts to go into the halftime locker room ahead by the slimmest of margins.

After a Brown lay-in with two and a half minutes to play in the second put Rockdale up 22-14, the visitors went scoreless for the remainder of the half. A particularly important stretch occurred with just under two minutes left and Okogie was at the forefront for the Gwinnett County school. The junior forward finished a tough bucket in the lane and was fouled, and after finishing the three-point play, he stole the inbounds pass and dunked to get Shiloh to within 22-21. A Rockdale turnover was followed by a coast-to-coast lay-up by Karim Brewton, which put Shiloh ahead 23-22 at the break and was its only lead of the half.

It was a tight opening quarter with Jordan draining a pair of 3-pointers, giving Rockdale an early 10-6 cushion. Josh Williams had a steal and fed Brewton for a dunk, which was followed closely by a Cedric Guillaume put back and the game was tied at 10-10.

Brown and Ray Washington hit threes early in the second, helping Rockdale build its eight-point cushion.

“I think we had great energy coming into the game, and we got off to a great start,” said Rockdale coach Tyrone King.

Shiloh got to the free-throw line 32 times, including hitting 12-of-16 in the fourth. Guillaume, who along with D.J. Waters chipped in with 12 points, knocked down six charity shots in the final period to help the Generals get some distance.


Photo: Jalen Jordan scored 21 points against Shiloh in a round of 16 game on Saturday.

Story