Jefferson Davis boys hope to make tournament noise

Blackville – While he may not have said it in so many words, Jefferson Davis Academy boys

basketball head coach Anthony Reitenour believes the Raiders are primed to make a run at winning a

state championship.

“We’ve just got to keep working,” said Reitenour of his squad, which was 12-8 overall and tied

for first in SCISA Region II-Class A with a 5-1 record. “I’m no stranger to the playoff environment. To

win in the playoffs, that’s a different animal.

“We’ve got everyone back and we got a good taste of it last year, winning a game for the first

time in a long time. We’re going to be a little more comfortable because we know who’s out there. It’s in

front of us. We just have to go get it.”

The Raiders, who are ranked third in the High School Sports Report Class A boys poll, share the

region crown with No. 2 Curtis Baptist, the defending Class A state champion. Jefferson Davis went on

the road to beat Curtis Baptist 48-46. The Crusaders won the most recent meeting 63-57 on February 7.

Jefferson Davis returned four starters from last year’s squad, and they picked up right where they

left off. They are seniors Nasir Void, Colson Loadholt and Payton Payne along with sophomore Reece

Still.

There was a battle going on for the final starting spot heading into the new year, but no more.

Sophomore Corbin Perry locked that spot up.

Void is averaging a double-double with a per-game scoring average of 16.1 to go with a

rebounding mark of 12.3. He also leads in blocked shots at 1.5 and averages 2.7 steals.

Loadholt is averaging 13.5 points and is the assists leader at 3.3 while pulling down 7,1 rebounds.

Payne is averaging 5.8 points and 5.0 rebounds, while Still is averaging 9.4 points, 3.5 rebounds,

2.3 assists and 2.2 steals.

Reitenour sees those two as something of unsung heroes.

“Reece is really instrumental at times and really comes through in clutch moments for us,” the

veteran head coach said. “Lately he’s accepted the role of getting more involved in both the offense and

the defense.

“Payton has been a great defender all year. He’s such a strong kid and he holds things down in the

paint."

As for Perry, he is averaging 6.8 points.

“Corbin put that away,” Reitenour said. “He’s shooting at a high percentage. He put in a lot of

time over the Christmas break and that locked him in.”

Reitenour is particularly pleased with how his defense has shown so much improvement.

“Our defense has improved drastically,” he said. “Early on we were not really doing a good job of

helping each other. We were committing silly fouls, we weren’t taking charges. The defense has

fundamentally gotten better. “

Others who are providing good minutes off the bench are junior Nolan Craig and senior Bryan

Montejano. Other members of the roster are junior Tanner Page, senior Riley Todd and junior Tanner

Williams.

Reitenour is excited about the tournament because there is going to be a lot of drama in Class A.

“I think there’s a lot of parity in Class A this year,” he said. “I think there are a lot of good teams,

but no one that just stands above the rest.

“I think we’ve got our legs back under us. Now we can go in guns a blazing. There are a lot of

strong tams, but they are beatable.”

JOHNSON HAPPY WITH JDA GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM

The Jefferson Davis girls basketball team is only 7-11 on the season after finishing 3-3 in region

play. However, head coach Larry Johnson is pleased with what he’s seen of his squad and thinks big

things await it in the state tournament.

“We’ve got no big issues,” Johnson said. “We’ve been playing some bigger schools who have just

outmatched us. We’ve lost three or four really close games. We lost them within the final minute or two.

So we could easily have a record of 11-7, but they were learning opportunities for us.”

Johnson said early in the year he thought the Raiders would make a deep run in the tournament.

He is sticking to that statement.

“We are going to make the tournament, and I still have the same expectations for it,” he said. “I

think if we don’t make it to the (state) championship (game) we will make the game before the

championship and give whoever we play a tough matchup.”

Johnson said Jefferson Davis has improved in all aspects as the season has moved along.

“The team has improved in breaking the press and with inside scoring,” he said. “Early in the

season we relied heavily on the 3-point shot, but lately we’ve been doing really well in the inside thanks

to freshman Rileigh York.”

York has been averaging around 14.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game since the Christmas

break.

York is part of the starting lineup that has held true all season. The other starters are senior

Peyton Hutto, junior Rynn Fickling, sophomore Brook Fogle and freshman Riley Williams.

Hutto is a major defensive presence in the low post, averaging close to five blocked shots a game.

She’s also averaging 5.9 points and 6.0 rebounds. Fickling is averaging 7.0 points, while Williams is

scoring at a 6.0 clip.

Seeing major minutes of the bench are senior Sydney Owens, sophomore Esmeralda Montejano

and sophomore Abby Dowling. Other members of the team are returnees Macey Respass and Madelyn

Respass, Elie Fogle, Olivia Reitenour, Abby Deering and Ava Guzman.