This season the North Atlanta men’s varsity basketball team faced many adversities on its way to a first-ever region crown for the school. After starting off slow, the team rallied mid-season and played inspired basketball leading to a region 7-5A crown.

Pre-season expectations for the team were sky high because the 15-player team was comprised of nine seniors, many of whom had significant playing experience. “We knew going in that we had something special with this group of young men,” said head coach Albert Thomas.

The team had an 18-11 overall record for the season and was an impressive 9-4 against region opponents. Momentum in the season really picked up after winter break. Starting in January, the Warriors only lost three games for the remainder of the season. Most teams they played during this stretch were routed by more than 10 points. “Things just came together and we were all focused on a common goal,” said senior John Lambert.

On January 31, on senior night, the Warriors made a statement by beating the #1 ranked Riverwood in the 2A sub-region by the score of 51-42. After this resounding win over the Raiders, the Warriors were ready to make their mark in the region tournament. The team mopped up the competition with the following tournament victories: Cass 52-44, Dalton 58-48, and Riverwood 60-43. For the championship game against Rome, the Warriors won 52-44 to seal a first-ever region championship.

In a first state playoff game, the Warriors faced a Gainesville team that had lost its starting point guard due to rules infractions. On February 17, the North Atlanta gym was packed with fans and a rowdy student section. “It was really great to see so many people come out to cheer us on,” said Thomas.

The Warriors were in full force with their top scorers Lambert, Ethan Staes, Ronald Bell, Donovan Ham and Miles Jenkins. This potent offense was going against the #3-ranked player in the state in Gainesville’s D’emarcus Simonds. At game’s end, the prolific Red Elephant player racked up 32 points. But during the first half a stout Warrior defense held him to only 6 points. In contrast, North Atlanta’s Ham outshined the Gainesville player with his double digits in the game’s first half. Ham finished the game with a total of 26 points to lead all Warrior scorers.

All game the score was close and eventually matters went into a tense overtime. As overtime came to an end, the Warrior crowd went wild when Lambert drained a clutch three-point shot to tie the game 54-54. “I really thought that we were headed to double overtime and that we were going to win the game,” Lambert said.

This desired outcome would not come to pass. With just 6.8 seconds on the clock, Simonds curled past the half court line. He received the ball and penetrated to bank a shot off the backboard with no time left on the clock. The crowed called for a travel but the call didn’t go that way and the game, and a dramatic Warrior season, came to its conclusion.

Emotions ran high in the locker room for the senior-laden team that had played its last game together. There were teary speeches from coaches and players. The 2014-15 season was over, but the memories will live on for a Warrior team that put hardware in the school trophy case and its name in the North Atlanta history books.