MILLEDGEVILLE, GA — Wendell Carter doesn’t crack a smile very often when he’s on the floor. It is all business for the state of Georgia’s best player. So, on the Elite Eight stage against Thomasville, a team with only one loss on the season, Carter was dialed in even more. 

It took one quarter to see just how things were going to go at Georgia College on Friday night. Carter was absolutely brilliant as Pace Academy beat 75-48. 

After the game, Carter was all smiles. He should have been. Pace Academy won at every position and collected the team’s most complete win of the year. Carter finished with 26 pts (10-12 FG, 1-1 from 3, 5-7 FT), 14 rebounds, 12 blocks, four assists and two steals. It was an epic performance. 

“We just came together and bonded on what coach was telling us. If we played our defense on one end, our offense was going to come to us. He preached that to us all season long,” Carter said. “It seemed like today was the day where we picked it up and hit our peak at the right time.”

Defensively, Pace only allowed 16 second half points against a team with a stable of high-level talent. 

“I don’t know what happened at halftime but something sparked in everyone and we came out and played,” Carter said.

The defense sparked the offense. The Knights (18-10) had production from all over the floor. Junior guard Barrett Baker had 15 points while senior wing Zach Kaminsky finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Sophomore wing Isaiah Kelly added 11 points and seven rebounds.  

“It is so satisfying,” Kaminsky said of the win. “Last year we lost right now (in the Elite 8) and it was brutal. It was a close game. We had so much invested in the team last year. For me, it means a lot to me because we did it against a really good team at this position in the Elite Eight. For me, it means even more.” 

Thomasville would make a surge here and there but it was difficult to get past Carter’s menacing presence in the middle. The five-star big man played like the kind of player that has drawn college basketball’s top head coaches in to see him this season. Wake Forest was at the game on Friday night. 

Defensively, Pace played as well as anyone in the state this week of the state tournament. That’s music to head coach Demetrius Smith’s ears. 

“We can defend anyone in the state. That’s really how I feel,” Smith said. “We went out and played man the whole game and I thought our inside play was better than their’s. I felt like if our guards could neutralize their guards that we would come out on top.” 

Thomasville had 16 points and eight rebounds from sophomore big man Reggie Perry. The 6-foot-8 forward was impressive in the defeat. He has the tools to be considered one of the best in the Peach State moving forward. But running into the buzzsaw of Carter is no easy task. 

His older brother, Alex, pumped in 12 points in the loss. Thomasville finished the season 28-2. 

Pace Academy will face a similarly fast and frantic team on Saturday night in Crawford County in the Class AA semifinals.