DECATUR, GA -- Greenforest Christian Academy head coach David Jones has coached basketball for 40 years in the Southeast and has a Costco-sized space in his life for lessons learned on the hardwood.

He stood in front of his team in a converted band room in the back corner of his school's gym and spoke to his young Eagles squad after an impressive 66-50 victory over Holy Innocents, one of the team's top Region 4-A foes.

"There are three seasons in a basketball year," Jones, who was dressed in his traditional Johnny Cash all-black wardrobe, said. "There's the regular season, the region tournament and the state tournament. You guys just finished the longest part of that. And you finished it better than any team has at Greenforest - undefeated in region play."

The team mixed of Dekalb County kids, giant Nigerian students and a mixture of South American players jumped in the middle of the room and chanted the popular sports anthem "Kernkraft 400".

There was reason to celebrate. This team of young players has come a long ways in a short time. The Eagles are undefeated in the 2014 portion of the season and enter the post-season on a high note.

At the start of the season, Greenforest Christian was amongst the teams considered as one of the very best in Georgia by the court of public opinion. The team, after all, won the ultra-competitive Class A Private state championship in 2013 and returned a bevy of talented, by raw, young talent.

But the team went through some growing pains, finishing the first half of the schedule 7-7 in the 2013 part of the schedule. An aggressive slate of games challenged the young Dekalb County private school. Perhaps that early and bumpy start prepared the team for what now awaits in bracket play.

"We're still working with our youth. We are still trying to teach them the way to play man defense the way it should be," Jones said in his thick southern drawl.

On Friday night, the team's interior sized was a difference maker. Sophomore Precious Ayah grabbed 10 rebound and blocked six shots. Junior Faisal Abdul-Malik made an impact in the minutes he played. Freshmen Victor Enoh and Bebe Iyiola had their moments when the team needed them.

"You have to keep hammering on them. There are two main things for me as a coach - defense and rebounding," Jones said. "I'm more of the Bobby Knight theory. You have to play hardnosed defense and not be selfish and move the ball. I think people overrate that."

As usual, the scoring duo of John Ogwuche and Justin Ravenel combined for 42 points in the win. Freshman point guard Justin Forrest played his best of the year, Jones said.

Holy Innocnents was paced by senior guard Darryl Stewart, Jr., who scored 21 points in the defeat.

For Greenforest, the quest continues as region play starts this week. Can the Eagles make a push in what Jones calls the second season? We'll find out.