Mays Raiders

The Benjamin E. Mays High School boys basketball team’s run through the GHSA state playoffs came to an end in the quarterfinals after a 64-59 loss to North Oconee.

The Raiders finished the season with a 21-9 record and were one of three Atlanta Public Schools (APS) teams to make a deep run into the state playoffs.

“It was a great season even though we didn’t make it to where we wanted to go,” said senior guard/ forward Davenport Cox. “We beat some teams that they probably said were better than us that we weren’t supposed to beat. But we went out there and proved them wrong. It was just a great season overall.”

Mays basketball has a legacy of championship basketball, and head coach Desmond Williams has the program moving back in that direction.

Williams (Mays class of 2004) was a senior on the 2004 state championship team that beat Butler 59-53 in overtime. Under former Mays head coach Floyd Mack, the Raiders defended their title in 2005 for back-to-back state championships.

Now, coach Mack’s signature is on the Raiders home court and Williams is leading the team from the sidelines.

“Coaching at Mays means the world to me,” Williams said. “From day one, when I went to college, I wanted to follow in coach Mack’s footsteps. I wanted to be a P.E. teacher and basketball coach, and I wanted to do it here in this community at Mays High School.”

Williams began coaching at Mays in 2019, and the basketball program has improved each year. The 2004 state championship banner that hangs in the school gymnasium is not only a reminder of the school’s history, but a motivator for the team as well.

When asked, Cox said the 2024-2025 Raiders would beat the 2004 championship team. Williams confidently disagreed.

Mays High School wasn’t the only APS basketball program to make a deep run at the state championship this year.

The Maynard Jackson girls basketball team returned to the AAAA state championship game for the second year in a row, and The B.E.S.T. Academy boys basketball team won the A Division I state championship.

“I think APS basketball is definitely trying to come back,” Williams said. “You have a lot of APS teams that make it to the state playoffs, and some made deep runs. I think APS basketball is definitely turning up where we can compete with the Cobb County Schools, Fulton County Schools and all those private schools in the future.”