Sumter – After suffering its first loss of the season and being pushed to the limit in another game in the Pepsi Classic, the top-ranked Crestwood High School boys basketball team opened region play in dominating fashion on Friday.
The Knights, ranked No. 1 in the High School Sports Report Sweet 16 AAA poll, used their relentless pressure defense to jump out to a 13-point lead after one quarterback and never looked back in an 89-44 victory over Lake City at The Castle in the Region 6 opener for both teams.
“I think we responded well to that,” CHS head coach Aric Samuel said of the 63-62 loss to North Augusta in the first game of the Pepsi Classic held last week in Florence. Crestwood followed it with an 81-70 win over Trinity Collegiate and a 75-74 win over South Florence.
“It’s always good to win. It’s always easier to fix things when you’re winning as opposed to fixing them when you’re losing. We’ve got some things to work on.”
In the girls game, Crestwood came away with a 63-37 victory, although it was a much closer contest.
The Crestwood boys, who played for the AAA state championship last season, had just two points through the first three minutes of the game, trailing 5-2. However, once they kicked it into gear, they took total control of the game.
The Knights used their deep bench throughout the game, playing 12 of the 17 players on the roster in the first quarter alone. They led 23-10 after one quarter with senior starter Aaron Coleman scoring six and senior B.J. Burgess coming off the bench for seven.
CHS, which improved to 14-1 on the season, used its fullcourt pressure defense to continue to force turnovers, often around the midcourt line. That led to numerous easy baskets as it scored 28 points in the second quarter to take a 51-23 lead into halftime. Coleman had eight points in the second quarter, Xavier Johnson seven and 6-foot=8=inch junior Teon Tindal had six.
Reserves played most of the second half for CHS, but the Panthers were never able to put together any kind of charge. Crestwood led 71-37 after three quarters.
The Knights had four players score in double figures with Coleman leading the way with 14, all coming in the first half. Tindal finished with 12 followed by Burgess with 11 and Johnson with 10.
Junior Riley Durant was close behind with nine while senior Neomiah Pope had eight and freshman Jaden Shaw and junior Shannon Davis both had six.
Junior Blayne Edwards led Lake City, which fell to 6-9, with 14 points. Senior Bryson Rose, LCHS’ leading scorer with a 16.8 per-game average, was limited to seven, while senior Dallas Davis, another double-figure scorer like Edwards and Rose, only played in the third quarter and did not score.
Sophomore Jeffery Burgess scored eight points.
Lake City head coach Seneca Barron is in his first season at his alma mater. He said his 6-9 team is still in a learning process, and one of the things it has to do is learn to compete better.
“Man, they’re a good team, they do a lot of good things,” Barron said of Crestwood. “We’re trying to rebuild this program. Hats off to them. They do what they do well. They speed you up, and our guys are just not there yet to play with them. We were just outmanned.
“I didn’t like the way we finished the game. We’ve got some things we’ve got to fix in-house, going to try and revamp this team with some players who are dedicated to what we’re doing. They’re a good team, but we made them better.”
Crestwood will be on the road for two huge games this week. It will travel to Bennettsville to take on No. 12 Marlboro County on Tuesday before visiting No. 4 Darlington on Friday.
“I think they understand the magnitude of those games,” Samuel said. He is hoping for a better defensive performance when the Knights aren’t able to force turnovers off the press.
“The scoreboard said we did a super, super job, and we did. I thought we played together, I thought we executed a few things, but we’re looking for just a little bit more toughness on defense in the halfcourt. Once we get back in practice, that’s going to be our focal point, to make sure we can keep the ball out of the paint, blocking out and understanding the importance of that.
“When we’re playing tougher opponents, we’ve got to be a little tougher in the halfcourt on defense.
` In the girls game, Crestwood was in the lead the overwhelming majority of the game, but it wasn’t really able to stretch it out until the fourth quarter.
The Knights led 11-6 after one quarter and 23-18 at halftime. They pushed the lead to 38-30 entering the fourth quarter and then outscored Lake City 25-7.
Junior Saniya Williams scored eight of her 25 points in the fourth quarter for the Knights, who impr4oved to 6-5. Senior Liliana Ignacio hit two 3-point shots in the final stanza for six of her 11 points.
Junior Javiah Martin finished the game with nine points, and junior London Vaughn had seven.
“I always tell them to play as a team, and tonight I feel like they did that,” said first-year CHS head coach Bridget Richardson. “We played with more consistency than we have. They had to learn me, I had to learn them.
“I think we fare pretty well in the region. As long as we play as a team and we play with consistency, we’ll be great.”
Lake City, which fell to 5-7, was led by junior Jayda Burgess with 16 points. Sophomore Na’Shira Starks had 11 points.
“Right now, we’ve got to do a lot of growing,” said Panthers head coach Debra Muldrow, who had just one senior on the roster. “We’ve got to come together and play together.
“We’ve got to gel. We played very well in the tournament last week (going 2-1in the District 9 Officials Christmas Basketball Tournament in Sumter). “The mentality has to get better. They do young mistakes. We’ve just got to keep working.”
BOYS
LAKE CITY
Amari Hanna 4, Blayne Edwards 14, Jayden Graham 2, Bryson Rose 7, Antonio Dickson 2, Etavion Davis 2, Jordan Dawson 1, Reginald Matthews 4, Jeffery Burgess 8.
CRESTWOOD
Jaden Stephens 2, Shannon Davis 6, Xavier Johnson 10, Aaron Coleman, B.J. Burgess 11, Teon Tindal 12, Jahiem Jones 5, Neomiah Pope 8, Riley Durant 9, Jaydis Williams 2, Jaden Shaw 6, Aric Samuel Jr. 2, Nyzer Pearson2.
GIRLS
LAKE CITY
Hannah Riles 1, Trayana Burgess 3, Jada Robinson 3, Na’Shira Starks 11, Jayda Burgess 16, Destiny McFadden 2.
CRESTWOOD
Saniya Williams 25, Javiah Martin 9, London Vaughn 7, Allana Dixon 4, Jonee McClain 2, Liliana Ignacio 11, Jer’Niya Alston 1, Kemoni Davis 3.
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