The Statesboro Blue Devils capped a 20-4 regular season with a region championship and Wednesday night they won the opening round of the state playoffs with a 56-37 victory over ML King. 

The Blue Devils have won eight of their last nine games and head coach Keith Legree attributes a lot of that success to the play of senior forward Mike Goodman.

“From the last two weeks of the regular season, through the region playoffs and including tonight he has been everything you can ask from a player,” Legree said. “He is a good kid and brings energy to the team and does everything you ask. If you get onto him, he doesn’t pout and never says a word back to you. He is what any coach would want from a player.”

“I feel like my job is to go in there and hit the boards and bring energy,” Goodman said. “It was great to be put into the starting lineup and I am trying to do all I can to help the team win. Whatever the coaches ask of me, that is what I am trying to do. I think if we keep playing like we did against MLK we can go all the way.”