Earlier this year, I wrote about Zion Williamson, the number two overall basketball recruit in the Class of 2018. Zion is from Spartanburg, and plays for the Spartanburg Day School Griffins. Zion exploded onto the scene these past two seasons due to his highly popular highlights, many receiving over a million views. His popularity continued to expand, especially when rapper Drake posted an Instagram picture wearing a custom Zion Williamson jersey, and later called him his favorite high school player. I’ve been following Zion for a couple of months now, and last week decided to make the trek to see him play. The SCISA AA semi-finals were played Thursday, February 24 at the Sumter Civic Center in Sumter, South Carolina. I traveled to watch him play with Jack Barna, as Spartanburg Day took on Trinity-Byrnes in a game much closer than they were usually accustomed to. Zion led the Griffins to a dramatic 72-67 victory, scoring 37 points to go along with his 14 rebounds, 5 steals, and 4 blocks, all in front of University of North Carolina’s head coach Roy Williams and a dozen other scouts.

Jack and I had a great first-hand view of the entire game, as we arrived two hours before the game, to ensure the best seats possible. We sat directly behind the Spartanburg Day bench, with maybe two feet between Zion and us during timeouts and halftime. We both received several high fives from Zion, and also a couple brief conversations during the game. Jack and I both can be seen in several of the aforementioned highlight videos, and also had the chance to talk to one of the BallisLife cameramen to hear his story about following Zion around for the past three months. He told me that almost every gym he played in sold out, and that the Saturday championship game would be no exception.

Saturday morning, four Academic Magnet students woke up early and made the hour and a half drive to watch Zion Williamson play in the 2A SCISA state championship game. Conor Coleman, Nate LeRoy, Garrett Smith, and Zach Harley left Charleston at 9 in the morning to make sure they would be able to get to Sumter by 10:30 and get tickets for the 12 o’clock championship game that would likely sell out before 12. Getting to the gym early paid off, and we got great seats right behind the home basket. After watching the 2A girls championship game, it was time for the main event. The Griffins were looking to repeat as back to back champs, but the Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach Saints believed they could pull off the upset. With every seat in the gym filled and plenty of fans standing and watching from beside the bleachers, it was finally game time. Zion Williamson walked out to center court for the jump ball and won it with ease. The Saints first possession, their senior guard Bryce Schneider went in for what looked like an easy layup, but his ball was sent into the floor and off into the crowd by Zion Williamson who was lurking behind him the whole time.

After the block, the Saints pulled off to an early lead, but once Zion and the Griffins got rolling, there was no looking back. At the end of the first quarter, Spartanburg Day led 13-8, with Zion scoring all 13 points. With every person having their phone out, waiting to record a Zion Williamson dunk in person, he got the ball on a fast break. Every single person in the gym rose to their feet and pulled out their phone. Zion left his feet and cocked the ball back behind his head and looked to slam it in the basket. He missed. Everyone in the gym was shocked, but Zion could do nothing but laugh, for he knew he would get another chance. At halftime Zion had 21 points and the Griffins went into the half with momentum following a three point buzzer beater by Frank Van Geison. They lead 31-16.

Leading into the 4th quarter, Spartanburg Day led 50-36 and Zion had 37 points. He was playing an outstanding game, but people in the gym were getting anxious. People drove from all over the state to watch a Zion dunk in person, but all we had seen was a failed dunk and a few fancy layups. In the fourth quarter it was Chandler Lindsey, however who brought down the house. After performing a couple of dribble moves, the junior point guard of Spartanburg Day dribbled into a wide open lane. Sam Woods, a 6’6 forward for Myrtle Beach stepped into the lane to attempt a block. Out of nowhere, Chandler rose up and slammed it down, posterizing the Saints forward. The gym went absolutely crazy. At the end of the game, Zion said “I’ve got to give a shout to my boy Chandler Lindsey. He got him (a dunk) tonight, and I liked it. I loved it.” Less than a minute later, Zion caught a tipped pass and ran down the court. The gym went quiet, then as Zion threw down a windmill dunk, it was filled with screaming and cheering. Zion flexed for the several cameras recording him and ran back to play defense. Zion, along with the other Griffin starters, were subbed off with about a minute left in the game to a standing ovation. The Griffins went on to win the second straight SCISA 2A basketball state championship 76-51. Zion ended the game with 51 points, and was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Chandler Lindsey.

After the game, we tried to get as close to Zion as we could, hopefully getting a photo with him along the way. The entire Spartanburg Day team was sitting on their bench, awaiting their trophy presentation as the local police and security attempted to keep the crowd away from the bench. As the Griffins walked back to the bench after getting their medals, I walked up to Zion and talked to him for a couple seconds then took a photo with him, proof that I met a future NBA star in his high school days.