Sumter – Neither the Christian Academy nor the Hilton Head Prep boys basketball teams were focused in on playing for a state championship at the start of the season. That’s what they’ll be doing though on Saturday at Sumter Civic Center after winning semifinal games at the facility on Thursday in the SCISA AAA state tournament.
Hilton Head Prep, the defending state champion, dominated Oakbrook Prep in the second half for a 49-32 victory. Christian Academy took control of its game against Greenwood Christian School at the start of the third quarter and held off a couple of runs in the fourth quarter for a 52-40 victory.
The game time for Saturday’s game has been moved up to 5 p.m. It was originally scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start, but since the AAA girls title game between Hilton Head Christian and John Paul II will be played in the Lowcountry on Saturday, the game time was switched.
The Dolphins, who improved to 19-8 on the season, and OP were tied at 19-19 at halftime. Hilton Head Prep limited the Knights to just 13 points in the second half while getting its offense in gear, scoring 15 points in the third quarter for a 34-23 lead entering the fourth quarter.
HHP got the first possession of the second half, and head coach Richard Barron called a set play that freed up senior Ben Frey for a slam dunk for the first points of the third quarter.
“We ran a set, got the dunk on the first possession, and that kind of got our guys going,” Barron said. “We made some 3(-point shot)s and then got our post kid (Jason Britschge) working.
“For the most part, we didn't turn the ball over at all, so they didn't get any transition points, which was a big key. We wanted to make sure they had to go against our halfcourt defense, so we were successful.”
Oakbrook, which finished with a 21-9 record, cut the lead to 36-26 early in the fourth quarter. It had a couple of chances to cut the deficit to single digits but failed. When Britschget got consecutive baskets to make it 40-26 with 5:35 to go, that put the Dolphins in complete control.
“Offensively we just couldn't get it going, rimming in and out,” said OP head coach Stephen Boyce, who took over 10 games ago when former head coach Joshua Clowney stepped down. “Defensively, it was more we miscommunicated with each other on the floor, mistakes, not listening, transitions on our defensive sets. I don't know if the moment was too much, but it caused some confusion.”
Britschge led Hilton Head Prep in scoring with 16, 14 of them coming in the second half. Billy Barron finished with 15 points, all on 3-pointers, with three of them coming in the third quarter. Frey finished with nine.
Zenai Davis led the Knights with 10 points, while Brad Caldwell had eight. Chris Williams and Xzuhri Bigger both had six.
Boyce had nothing but praise for his team’s performance after he took over.
“At the end of the day, we won the last nine games of the regular season,” he said. “We won our region tournament. This was a big turn of events. We didn't go as far as we wanted, but it was a good season considering the circumstances.”
Coach Barron said he is excited to see this group get back to the state championship game.
“It's great. I don’t know that a lot of people gave this group much of a chance,” he said. “We graduated some really good players last year, had some good seniors. The expectation was we were going to be down, and these kids stepped up from the very beginning. They played really well as a team, they've been coachable, and as a coach that means a lot.
We've got our chances, but so does Christian Academy. They're a good team, so we're going to have to lace them up on Saturday.”
Christian Academy 52
Greenwood Christian 40
Much like HHP, Christian Academy’s defense was the key in the third quarter. The Saints, who led 27-24 at halftime, managed only 10 points in the third quarter. However, they held the Hawks to just two to take a 37-26 lead into the final stanza.
“Most of the season we struggled at the start of the third quarter,” said CA head coach Marion Busby, whose team improved to 22-8 on the season. “Since the playoffs we've gotten off to fast starts and we did that again tonight. We played really strong on defense against their guards.”
Ty Kennedy hit a layup and Owen Whittington canned two free throws to bring Greenwood Christian within 39-34 with 4:44 to go. The Hawks had a couple of opportunities to make it a one-possession game but were unable to do so.
A 3-point play by 6-foot-6-inch Sabion Sessions righted the ship for Christian, making it 42-34. GCS, which finished with a 21-7 record, got within 46-40 with 1:20 left, but a layup by Joel Hodo with 1:11 left put the game away.
` Brayden Hendrix led Christian Academy with 23 points, while Sessions had a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jack Green had six and Ayden Leith had five points to go with four steals. Aubrey Hall also had four steals.
Lee Dahlberg led Greenwood Christian with 11 points. Isaiah Scott-Palacios had nine points, while Kennedy had eight and Leland Reed six.
The Hawks played without first-year head coach Jonathan Davis, who was at home sick.
“I think him not being there made some difference,” said assistant coach Joseph Ryans. “Just the familiarity of the kids knowing what he expects from them. We just didn't have shots fall for us. They hit a lot of good high-percenetage shots We couldn't hit wid3 open or contsted shots. When they're not falling, they're not faling.”
Busby said his squad has made great strides as the season has progressed.
“Last year’s team talked about winning the state championship,” said Busby, whose squad lost in the semifinals. “This year's team just talked about making the playoffs and going from there. We've played really good coming down the stretch.”
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