BOILING SPRINGS, SC - After letting dropping the lead they held in the first half during the third quarter, the Boiling Springs basketball team used an impressive fourth quarter performance to grab a 47-38 victory over Hillcrest on Friday night to start the 2022 side of their schedule.
"We started out slow tonight," said Bulldogs head coach Curtis Nash. "We talked to them yesterday about playing four quarters and giving us a full game without taking a quarter off which always seems to turn into us falling behind at some point the next game. I told them just now they must just like playing games from behind because we start playing with more passion and intensity when we get down in games. In the fourth quarter I challenged them to play hard and chip away at the lead which they done, and we got some transition points which helped us come away with the win." After holding a 21-18 halftime lead, which looked like it was going to be a six-point lead until the Rams Israel Hall hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the second quarter, Boiling Springs saw their lead slip away in the third quarter behind a 10-1 run to start the quarter by Hillcrest. The Rams' run was dispersed amongst five different Hillcrest scorers but was sparked by a three-pointer from junior Tony Williams who led the Rams to a 33-27 lead at the end of the third quarter. Julius Camp Jr was the only defense to the Rams run in the third quarter as he scored all six of the Bulldogs points in the quarter. In the fourth quarter the Bulldogs returned the favor to Hillcrest as they opened the quarter on an impressive 16-1 run, which got started on seven straight points by the Bulldogs. The Boiling Springs run was started on a three-pointer by senior Austin Faile, just seconds into the quarter, as he connected on a shot from the right corner of the court. Dominique Johnson accounted for the next four points by the Bulldogs, including going two for two from the free throw line to put Boiling Springs back in front at 34-33 with over six minutes left to play in the quarter. Three straight baskets by either Camp or Tre Locklear pushed the Bulldogs lead to 40-34 before Charkei Singleton capped the 16-1 run with a three-pointer from the left side to make the Boiling Springs lead 43-34. Faile and Singleton went four of six from the free throw line over the last minute of the game to help seal the victory for the Bulldogs. Along with Locklear the duo also caused lots of problems for the Rams on the defensive side of the ball as they combined to come away with six steals from their pressure defense which Nash says is what they expect from their guards. "Defensively we preach to those guys to put pressure on the ball," said Nash. "For our guys to put pressure on the other team and force them to give us easy baskets." The Bulldogs got another solid night from Julius Camp Jr as he finished the game with a double-double, scoring 17 points while adding 11 rebounds and two steals. Camp's performance over the last two games is something that Nash says they've known he was capable of all season. "I've been proud of JJ these last two games," said Nash. "He's really started to play the way we know he can play and using his athleticism to get rebounds and giving us some points. I'm hoping this play continues as we continue into region play the next few weeks." Hillcrest was led on offense by Michael Henderson who scored 10 points while also getting a good night in the post from Chavis Lee-Carter who added four points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks. Boiling Springs will return to the court on Tuesday night when they travel to Nation Ford to open up region play for the Bulldogs. After a busy holiday schedule, Nash hopes all the experience they got during that time benefits his team as they head into a tough region schedule. "We didn't get a lot of practice time over the break, but we did play a lot of basketball, which getting that live action to me is extremely important," said Nash. "We hope we can take the experience from the tournaments and ride the momentum from this win tonight to pick up some more wins in region play." Comments are closed.
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