Cedar Grove's Emanuel Green (with ball) pulls up to shoot against Baldwin defender Deve Nelson early in the third quarter. Green had six points in a 9-0 run to open the second and give the Saints some breathing room on the way to a 56-49 win in the Class 3A quarterfinals. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Cedar Grove’s Emanuel Green (with ball) pulls up to shoot against Baldwin defender Deve Nelson early in the third quarter. Green had six points in a 9-0 run to open the second and give the Saints some breathing room on the way to a 56-49 win in the Class 3A quarterfinals. (Photo by Mark Brock)

A 9-0 run to open the third quarter along with some tough defense turned the momentum in the favor of the Cedar Grove Saints as they went on to a 56-49 Class 3A boys’ state quarterfinal win at Cedar Grove on Wednesday night.

Baldwin lost 23-21 lead late in the first half but with an offensive put back by Bryan Goddard trailed just 27-25 heading into halftime.

Cedar Grove (27-3) came out determined to start the second half, forcing several turnovers while junior Emanuel Green turned up his attacks on the basket.

Green had a pair of drives to the basket to open the second half, including a baseline reverse layup, and a turnaround jumper to make it 33-25 at the 6:05 mark of the third quarter. Yusef Bowyer followed with a three-pointer to complete the 9-0 to up the advantage to 36-25 with 5:56 to play following a block by Javonte Floyd (7 blocks in the game).

Two quick baskets by Baldwin’s Karez Demory closed the gap to seven only to have Bowyer respond with tough floater in the lane and then have the assist (1 of 8 on the night) Dontavious Stringfield to make it a 40-31 lead with a quarter to play.

A 6-0 run midway through the fourth quarter by the Braves (23-8) closed the gap to 47-43. Green responded with a pair of pull up jumpers. Despite Baldwin’s Demory hitting four free throws in the final 1:38 of the game the Braves got no closer than four.

Keith Gillespie drove and kicked the ball to Floyd for an emphatic dunk with 1:23 to play that put the exclamation point on the win.

Green went on to knock down two free throws and Bowyer added another to close out the 56-49 victory.

The first half featured 10 lead changes with neither team leading by more than four at any point in the opening half.

Green finished with a game-high 23 points (5 rebounds, 3 steals) to lead the Saints to the win. Yusef Bowyer (8 assists) hit for 11 points and Keith Gillespie added 10 points. Javonte Floyd finished with eight points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks.

Deven Nelson led the Braves with 16 points (5 rebounds) and Karez Demory added 14 points.

Cedar Grove advances to the state semifinals for the ninth time in school history and the first since finishing as the Class 3A runner-up in 2023. Cedar Grove is the No. 3 seed in the state playoffs after winning the Region 5-3A title and finished the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A.

The Saints take on the Monroe Golden Tornadoes (21-9) on Friday (Feb. 28) at 7:00 pm at Ft. Valley University. Monroe is the Region 1-3A champ, No. 7 seed in the playoffs and ranked 10th in Class 3A.

DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Feb. 26
BOYS
CLASS 3A
Cedar Grove (27-3) 56, Baldwin (23-8) 49

CLASS 4A
Tucker (25-6) 86, Jonesboro (22-9) 80 OT

DCSD STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Friday, Feb. 28
CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS – FT. VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Cedar Grove (27-3) vs. Monroe (21-9), 7:00 pm

Saturday, Mar. 1
CLASS 4A BOYS SEMIFINALS – FT. VALLEY UNIVERSITY
Tucker (25-6) vs. Pace Academy (26-4), 3:00 pm