Roswell Closes In On Region Basketball Title

By Mike Blum

It’s been 20 years since Roswell won a state high school basketball championship and with a handful of exceptions, the past two decades have not been particularly successful for the Hornets.

After a 40-30 victory on their home court Friday, Jan. 20, the Hornets are 17-3, 6-0 in 4-AAAAAAA and closing in on a regular season region title and a berth in the state tournament in what is shaping up to be their best season since the 1996-97 championship squad.

The Hornets sport a veteran, defensive-oriented squad that is 15-1 since back-to-back early season losses, and can clinch first place in the regular season and the top seed in the region tournament with two wins in their final four games.

Roswell starts three seniors, with a fourth senior also starting before suffering an injury. Nine of the team’s 10 primary players are either seniors or juniors, with the lone exception being sophomore point guard Miles Herron, who leads the team in scoring and assists.

Herron joins 6-5 senior forward James Anderson as the only players on the team averaging more than six points a game, with the Hornets’ deliberate style of offense and tight man-to-defense keeping the scores of their games down.

The Hornets are allowing opponents only 45 points a game, yielding more than 60 points in a game just twice this season.

“The kids have bought in and it’s been awesome to watch,” said Ty Phillips, who is in his 10th season as Roswell’s head coach. “Our system depends on defense.”

The Hornets force opposing offenses to work extremely hard to get good shots, and Roswell’s motion offense that spreads the floor and utilizes numerous screens on each play requires as much effort for opponents at the opposite end of the floor.

Roswell managed just 11 field goals in the win against Cherokee High School, but seven of them were three-pointers, with the Hornets’ offense designed to get three-pointers or layups. The only exceptions in the game were a drive to the basket by Anderson, a buzzer beater from beyond the half court line by Herron to end the third period and a steal and dunk by football standout Jayden Comma, a top reserve.

Herron averages just over 13 points a game and Anderson scores 12 per contest, with both players able to take it to the hoop or connect from outside.

“I can’t say enough about what they mean to us,” Phillips said of Herron and Anderson.

They are among four Roswell players shooting at least 40 percent on three-pointers, with Anderson described by Phillips as “a big guy with guard skills.”

Anderson leads the team with seven rebounds a game and is the Hornets’ most effective shot blocker. He and senior R.J. Frierson provide the height in the starting lineup, with Comma and junior Aaron Caffey the main front court backups. Comma, who will play wide receiver for Maryland next fall, brings athleticism and defense off the bench, and has also produced a recent double figure scoring game along with Matt Grossman.

Frierson and senior guard Jordan Merriman are the other offensive threats for the Hornets, with Merriman contributing three double-figure scoring games this season, most of his points coming on threes. Both average around six points a game, with Frierson second in rebounds, Ryan Brennan, the third guard in the starting lineup, is not a prolific scorer, making his mark with strong defense and heady play on the offensive end, ranking second behind Herron in assists.

Amin Abdullah and fellow junior Grossman are the backcourt backups, with senior Ian McDermott out with an injury.

With the regular season title within reach, the Hornets’ next goal will be to win the region tournament, a necessity if the Hornets have realistic hopes of making some noise in the state 7A tournament.

The four state playoff qualifiers from Region 4 will play teams from Region 2, which includes three of the state’s five top-ranked teams. The Region 4 champion will get a test from the No. 4 team out of Region 2, with the other three playoff teams from Region 4 likely to end their seasons with losses to talent-laden opponents.

While Roswell has made it to state championship games in football and baseball in recent seasons and both have long histories of success, the Hornets’ basketball teams have generally not fared as well.

A team led by future Georgia standout and NBA player Alec Kessler enjoyed a brief tournament run in the late 1980s, and a team that featured UGA and long-time NFL defensive back Jermaine Phillips and Auburn basketball starter Scott Pohlman won a state championship in the highest classification in 1997.

The Hornets fielded a strong team in the early 2000's that included current NBA player Jodie Meeks, but he transferred to Norcross after his freshman season, with the Blue Devils scoring the first of four state titles in a six-year span during Meeks’ senior season.

The next decade for Roswell consisted of a string of losing records. But in Phillips’ fourth season, the Hornets scored an upset state playoff win over region champion Berkmar (coached by Phillips’ brother), finished with a winning record the next year and scored regular season wins in 2012-13 over state powers Wheeler and Milton before losing to Wheeler in the region finals.

After a third straight winning record in 2013-14, the Hornets suffered through losing seasons the next two seasons. But with Wheeler and Milton both changing regions after the 2015-16 school year, the door was open for the Roswell basketball team this season. Phillips believed the Hornets were capable of winning the region this year, and his team is close to achieving that goal.

One question mark for the Hornets as they enter post-season is how tested they are. The best team the Hornets have faced this season is perennial Class A power St. Francis, which is not nearly as talented or experienced as in the recent past. The Hornets are 15-0 against 7A opponents, but only three of those victories have come against teams with winning records, two of those over Cherokee.

Among the teams Roswell has defeated is Milton, which is unbeaten in 5-AAAAAAA but is 8-10 overall.

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