Jibri Bryan's high school mourns loss of respected graduate

SAVANNAH -- The mood was somber at Benedictine on Wednesday as teachers, administrators and Cadets remembered Mercer University’s Jibri Bryan, the former BC basketball star who was shot and killed in Macon on Tuesday.

It was national signing day, and a ceremony planned at BC for Sanders

Creech, who signed to play football for The Citadel, went on as planned — but athletic director Danny Britt addressed students and faculty beforehand about Bryan’s death.

“We lost a brother yesterday when Jibri was killed,” Britt said. “We all need to pray for Jibri and his family.”

Campus minister Father Ronald Gatman talked about what a fine student-athlete Bryan was and led the group in a prayer to remember Bryan, who was pursuing a master’s degree, while playing as a redshirt senior for Mercer.

Bryan, 23, was an All-Savannah Morning News first-team selection in his senior season of 2009-10. He averaged 19.6 points, 9.7 rebounds and four steals per game as the Cadets won 22 games and reached the second round of the state playoffs, while earning honor-roll status in the classroom.

Last season, Bryan had his best year at Mercer, averaging 7.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, and he had an impressive record of community service in Macon.

Mercer graduate Daniel Coursey was close friends with Bryan since they were freshman at BC, as the pair became even tighter as teammates on the Bears — helping lead No. 14 seed Mercer to an upset win over No. 3 seed Duke in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

Coursey, now playing in the NBA Development League for the Santa Cruz Warriors in California, was shocked and saddened to hear of his friend’s death.

“We played basketball together for our entire careers,” Coursey said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I’ve been getting so many calls and texts from across the country about Jibri, it just doesn’t seem real to me. It seems like he should still be there in Macon.

“There honestly isn’t anything I can say that would do justice to the kind of person he was,” said Coursey, who plans to return to Savannah on Saturday to support the Bryan family and attend his friend’s services. “He was incredibly thoughtful and loyal to his family and teammates, He was an incredible friend.”

Coursey said that Bryan has a young son, J.J. (Jibri Junior).

BC basketball coach Doug Willett said he was still in shock the morning after hearing of Bryan’s death. Willett was a BC assistant during Bryan’s high school days.

“It makes you question the world we live in — life is just too valuable for

someone to pull a gun and shoot another person,” Willett said. “Jibri was a great guy on and off the floor. He was the kind of guy every father woul want their son to grow up to be, and if you have a daughter — he was the kind of guy you would want her to marry. As a player, he was a team-first guy — just everything you want a player to be. I think the world got cheated by what happened to Jibri yesterday.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Jibri Bryan's high school mourns loss of respected graduate."