MACON — Elias Seise scored a game-high 27 points and pulled in 10 rebounds Thursday as Griffin Christian topped The Weber School 56-38 in the opening-round of GISA Class AAA state playoffs at Stratford Academy for their first win ever in state tournament play.

"Elite 8 — we're excited about that," Griffin Christian head coach Mic Savage said about the round his team advanced to with its record setting win.

Griffin Christian left the court to a cheering ovation from the fans who made the hour-long trip from Griffin.

The Crusaders (20-7) now advance to a state quarterfinal-round game 2:30 p.m., Saturday at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Ga., where they will take on the No. 3-state ranked Bethesda (24-7).

"We're going to have to play better defense than we did tonight," said Savage

Griffin Christian, which led 7-5 at the end of the first quarter, outscored The Weber School 20-9 in the second quarter to grab a 27-14 lead and command heading into halftime.

"We wanted to come in and mix it up a little and we did," said Savage. "But we felt like it backfired a little to start with until we started finding the right chemistry and took over the tempo of the game.

"We knew we had the size advantage inside with Seise and took advantage of it," Savage added.

At one point in the third quarter Griffin Christian was poised to take a 20-point lead, but The Weber School stepped up at the end of the quarter to trim GCHS's lead to 16 points, 39-23.

The Crusaders outscored The Weber School 17-15 in the fourth quarter to put the record-setting win away in a game where freshman Isaiah Seise (Elias Seise's younger brother) started and two other freshmen — Wil Savage and Jonathan Hammond — saw extensive action.

Griffin Christian (20-7) came into the game trying to shake off a 64-36 loss to No. 4-state ranked Mount de Sales in the Region 2-AAA finals last week.

Ui Pearl scored 14 points to lead The Weber School (12-9) which lost for the second time in its last three games to end its season.

Anthony Lewis and Matt Hammond rounded out Griffin Christian's leading scorers with six points each. Lewis added three steals.