Zach Norris now has six state titles on his resume after his team rolled to a 70-40 win over Ridgeland-Hardeeville in the Class AAA state championship game Saturday at the Colonial Life Arena.
The Raiders (30-1) only loss was to a Dorman team which has now won three consecutive 5A crowns. Norris says the 2018-2019 Raider squad is his best yet.
"They are probably the best. The best. The best," Norris emphasized after the game.
"They've been through a lot of adversity and everything. The other teams were a lot more loaded talent-wise. This team had a little nucleus that was real talented and they put it all together and I'm real proud of them."
Forward Dillon Jones had a statistic-stuffing boxscore - 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks. Jones was ecstatic that he is on a team that Norris considers his best ever.
"He said it? That means a lot," Jones said.
"He told us we were in the conversation. But (if) we didn't win it, it wasn't going to mean nothing. So we got it done and it's good that he actually said it. He's been here for 20 years and for us to be known as the greatest, that's crazy. That's mind-blowing. But we worked for it, so we got it done."
Fellow forward Raekwon Horton recorded 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal. He too, was quite pleased to hear of Norris' high praise.
"Man, wild. That caught me by surprise," he said.
"Hey, he coached a lot of greats, a lot of great teams and for us to be number one, it means a lot, it means the world to me in fact. We finished it."
Asanti Price, who transferred in for one season from North Carolina, led the Raiders with 22 points. Latrell Taylor added 15 points, eight rebounds and four steals to go with two assists.
Overall, this is the eighth state title for the W.J. Keenan boys program.