By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Dillon — The Dillon Wildcats (13-5, 4-1) head boys basketball coach, Bryan Grice says his 2023-24 team is the best over-all team he has coached over his 35-year coaching career, and the Wildcats will have ever opportunity to win a region championship in the final week of the regular season.
“Because of our deep bench this is as strong a team as I’ve ever coached,” said Coach Grice. “We are capable of winning it all this year. We just need to get on the court and perform.
“We have a huge home game with Loris at home (January, 26) and if we can win that game, by more than three points, we will have first place in the region with three region games left to play,” said Coach Grice. “Anything can happen but beating Loris is key to our goal of winning the region. Our only loss in the region, so far, was a 78-75 loss at Loris in early January.”
Since that nail-biting loss to the Lions, the Wildcats have responded with five wins in a row. They have defeated Red Springs NC (60-50), Aynor (64-30), Manning (68-60), Waccamaw (46-43) and Georgetown (75-43.
In the Georgetown win senior shooting guard Ta’norre Monroe led Dillon’s scoring with 18 points aided by him making four three-pointers. Talented 6-2 sophomore forward Zamaurious Robertson guard contributed 14 points also.
“Robertson is the captain of the team and he can do it all,” said Coach Grice. “He ‘s a slasher with good moves to the basket and he can step outside and hit a three-pointer also. He shoots really well. When he’s on we’re on.”
Robertson leads the team in scoring at 14.7 points a game and 3,2 rebounds. To date he has made 20 three-pointers on the season. Monroe, a combo-guard, is second in scoring at 8 points and 2.1 rebounds a game.
“We call Monroe our zone buster,” said Coach Grice. “He can stroke it from the outside.”
The other three starters include Samuel, a senior center, who leads the team in rebounding with 8.2 a game while averaging 5.1 points. Jamarion Fling is a junior point guard averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds a game and junior big-man Jazier Walker brings rebounding and good inside defense to the court.
“I like to sit all five starters down early in the game and let them observe what the other team has been doing in the game,” said Coach Grice. “This allows me to put five new starters in the game and to see what they can contribute also. We have 16 players on the team and I like to get them all involved.”
For the first half of the season, junior small forward Rahmond Hamilton (6-2) was out with an injury. “He’s a sixth man off the bench and he is very versatile,” said Coach Grice. “I look for him to be starting before the end of the season. He can play the 2-3 or 4 positions for us.”
Another player usually first off, the bench is back-up center Ian Myers (6-5). “He is a strong rebounder and a good shot blocker,” said Coach Grice. Junior point guard Zephaniah Campbell is a point guard that handles pressure defenses well. Junior inside player Kyhiem Lester (6-4) is a lefty who pounds the boards well.
Other members of the team include senior back-up shooting guard Niyonkuru Patrick, along with junior 2-3 performer Michael Williams. Senior big-man Jayden Benjamin (6-4) (North-South in football) is sent in “to clean-out the inside lane.”
Other key reserves are junior point guard Jafari Jones, junior shooting guard Jacob Hunt, junior center Daquavious Williams and senior small forward L’nauhre Bethea.
Robertson had a season high 35 points against Loris earlier in the season. He hopes to have several more games like that one before the season concludes, hopefully with a deep run in the upcoming AAA playoffs.
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