Same Demons, new digs: Warner Robins to debut new hoops home in playoffs

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Jamaal Garman knows the nooks and crannies and smells and numbers of the gym snuggled into a part of Warner Robins High.

          Back in the day, he played in it, under a mentor. Then he assumed control of the program. So, for years, as he passed that mentor, he led a program that had outgrown its home.

          The Warner Robins boys basketball program hasn’t changed much under Garman.

          But, finally, where it plays has changed. The hoops home is matching the program.

          Warner Robins will debut its huge new gym – more of an arena now than a gym – Friday evening when it welcomes Jonesboro in a GHSA Class 5A first-round boys basketball playoff game.

          Talk about anticipation. Garman has waited so long for the facility, and to open the state tournament in it? Well, it’s big, but not as big as the game itself.

          “I’m staying in perspective,” Garman said. “I understand we’re moving into a new building. But it’s still a state playoff game.”

          No doubt, though, there’s a difference between a man in his 40s and the teen-agers and their levels of anticipation. The joy of finally getting in there has a chance to get into his players heads a little bit, but he doesn’t think that’ll happen. For one

          For one, the Demons won the Region 1-5A tournament in a much bigger facility than theirs, at Veterans. They’ve had plenty of games in places that seated two or three times as many fans as their own. Including at Jonesboro, their opponent Friday night in the first round. Jonesboro opened a new – and big, similar to Veterans – gym earlier this year, not long before a 55-54 overtime win over visiting Warner Robins.

          It was a game between two quality teams that deserved to be as tight as it was.

          “That’s what it was,” Garman said. “It was two good, sound basketball teams. It wasn’t a bad game.”

          But?

          “We missed a bunch of little bunnies,” he said. “We had chances, we didn’t do the things we needed to do.”

          But they also know they’ve had big games with empty seats. The current gym seats about 900, but when you account for cheerleaders and other things, the Demons – winners of region titles galore – had maybe 800 people for a packed home game.

          They’re no doubt anxious to go in a big place that is theirs, and where most everybody in the room is yelling for the Demons. The gym is named after Elijah Weatherspoon, a county coaching legend who died in late 2018. And the on-court tribute is to Chip Malone, a script that Malone disciple Garman will see so often. Garman may allow himself some sentimentality down the line, but he knows that the present – as Malone would preach – is the priority.

          Garman doesn’t teach at Warner Robins High, so it’s not like he’ll be inhabiting the building a lot. Still, what does he like the most?

          “Seating and parking,” he said. “People can come to the games. No, really. Seating and parking. People don’t really want to come out if they’ve got to walk almost half a mile to get to the gym. And they get there and it might be sold out. ‘I’d rather stay home.’

          “Now, they know they got plenty of parking. It’s huge.”

          And it’s up to the Demons to make the debut a good one, and see how long they can stay undefeated in the building this season.

          Warner Robins is 21-4, Jonesboro 17-10 and on a two-game losing streak. The Demons are balanced, but led by Keshun Houser, Quon Dillard, and Greg Jones. Still, there is some roster turnover, so Garman doesn’t foresee overconfidence from a group that has yet to prove itself.

          “We’ll be excited about being in there,” Garman said. “But we have to be focused on what’s going on.”

          So they can play there again the next week.