Sumter – The Orangeburg Prep boys basketball team jumped out to a 19-8 lead after one quarter in its first-round game in the SCISA AAA state tournament against John Paul II on Saturday. The Indians maintained an 11-point advantage at halftime and after three quarters as well before putting the game away in the final stanza, winning by a 57-37 count at Wilson Hall’s Nash Student Center.
OP, which improved to 18-7 on the season, will take on Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday at Sumter Civic Center beginning at 8 p.m.
“We got off to a great start and we did some good things,” said Orangeburg Prep head coach Al Hay. “We kind of got in the flow of the game, we ran our offense well. We hit a little lull there in the third quarter, but we picked it up and did enough to finish.”
The Indians got seven points from 6-foot-5-inch Tilden “T” Riley in the first quarter and six from Jay Plummer on a pair of 3-point baskets. Austin Hall, a 6-3 senior, had four points.
“If we can hit our outside shots we’re pretty effective because we’ve got a pretty good inside game with “T” Riley and Austin Hall,” Hay said. “If we can get both of those things going we can be a tough out.”
OP led 27-16 at halftime and 37-26 after three quarters. It pushed the lead to 14 early in the fourth quarter before two free throws by JPII freshman Daniel Godsun and a 3-point play by senior Christian Tilton cut the lead to 44-35 with 4:34 left in the game. The Golden Warriors, who finished with a 14-11 record, had a chance to get ever closer, but failed to do so.
Orangeburg Prep got a layup from Riley and two free throws from Hall to kill the momentum and go up 48-35 with 3:09 left. JPII would only score two points the rest of the way.
Riley finished with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds to go with six blocked shots. Hall had 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Avery Ravenell had eight points and six assists. Plummer had nine points and Harris Holsetein added five.
Tilton led John Paul II with 15 points. Junior Nicholai Atkinson had 10, and Godsun finished with six.
Hay hopes to have his Indians at full strength against Christian Academy, the lower bracket No. 1 seed. OP played without one of its top ball handlers against the Warriors in Walt Mims, who was out because of sickness.
“I think we’re probably right on schedule,” was Hay’s response when asked howe he thought his team was performing. “I think we’re where we expected to be. We’ve got some good young players, but we’ve got some senior leadership that helps us as well.”
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