Boiling Springs used a strong performance from All-Region player Khalil Brown to capture a 58-54 road victory over their district foes Chesnee on Friday night. "We've had too many exciting games here lately," said Bulldogs head coach Curtis Nash with a laugh. "I'm always glad to come away with a win and the boys played hard tonight." Boiling Springs jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter behind strong play from senior Jacob Webber and junior Charkei Singleton who both scored five points in the quarter to give the Bulldogs a 17-13 lead. While the Bulldogs held the lead they had to fend off a strong first quarter performance by Chesnee junior KJ Valentine who scored seven points in the quarter. In the second quarter the Bulldogs extended their lead by one to lead 32-27 at halftime behind a strong second quarter performance from senior Cam Earls who scored nine of his thirteen first half points in the quarter. Chesnee's Cole Hoskyns started the scoring in the second half hitting a layup to bring the Bulldogs lead to three but Boiling Springs responded with a three pointer by junior Khalil Brown, who led all scorers with eight points in the quarter. Brown was joined by senior Corey Johnson who scored the other five of the Bulldogs thirteen points in the quarter. Johnson had a rare occurrence on Friday night as he was held scoreless in the first half but Coach Nash said that even being held scoreless Johnson was key as he had picked up three defensive steals in the half. "Early on Corey didn't get a lot of touches and when he did they just didn't fall but I told him to just keep working," said Nash. "I told him to do the other little things to help us win tonight and he did just that with his steals and defensive play." In the fourth quarter the game went back and forth as Chesnee was able to grab a 47-45 lead with just under seven minutes to go in the game on a Valentine shot in the post but Boiling Springs reclaimed the lead for good when Charkei Singleton stole an Eagles pass at midcourt for a layup to go ahead 51-49 with four minutes to go in the game. As the teams continued to battle into the final quarter the Bulldogs led 55-54 when Johnson hit a big three-pointer to put Boiling Springs up 58-54 and seal the victory. Chesnee coach Andy Pitt said that he knew a game like this would come down to the final shot. "I told our guys that this was one of those games that was likely going to come down to someone hitting a big shot and Corey Johnson hit that big shot," said Pitt. "In a game like this that was going to be the difference and it proved to be right tonight." Boiling Springs' Khalil Brown led all scorers on Friday night as he finished the game with nineteen points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Brown's performance is something that Coach Nash says he has been waiting to see since the season began. "Khalil is a great player and I've been waiting all season for this Khalil to show up," said Nash. "He's been telling me all week after our game against Woodruff that he was going to show me what type of player that he is and he done just that tonight." Chesnee was led in scoring by Nyquille O'Fair who finished the night with sixteen points along with three rebounds and two steals. O'Fair's leadership is something that Coach Pitt says he saw develop this fall. "Nyquille has really become a great leader for us and I think he grew a lot during football season where he played quarterback and parlayed that into basketball," said Pitt. "He's the leader we need and takes over in the tough moments." Boiling Springs will next play again on Tuesday in a road matchup against Woodruff while Chesnee will next play on Tuesday as well in their first region matchup, a road game against Blacksburg. Blair Leads Eagles Fourth Quarter Rally Over Lady BulldogsChesnee used a 21-4 run in the fourth quarter to defeat Boiling Springs 41-34 on Friday night that was led by senior guard Kymiah Blair who scored nine of her game high thirteen points in the fourth quarter.
"We were down going into the fourth quarter and I knew as a leader I needed to step up to give our team some momentum to start off the quarter," said Eagles senior guard Kymiah Blair. "We were a little dead in the first three quarters so starting the fourth quarter I just came out and started shooting the ball and it started going in. Once I started shooting everyone started to do the same and we were able to pull out the win." The fourth quarter rally began with Blair making back-to-back free throws that started the Eagles on an 11-0 run in the quarter as Blair also hit a three pointer with just under five minutes to go to give Chesnee a 31-30 lead at which point the Eagles never looked back. Blair finished the game with thirteen points to go along with three rebounds and three steals. "I told the girls at halftime we needed a leader and they stepped up especially Kymiah," said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. "I think the whole team just responded and stepped up in the fourth quarter." The rally also saw strong performances around the rim by seniors Jessa Beach and Shenandoah Bishop along with junior Brie Smith. Beach ended the game with a double-double after recording ten points and ten rebounds while Bishop finished the night with six points, six rebounds, and two steals. Smith added seven points and seven rebounds along with a steal while also coming up with some very crucial rebounds in the fourth quarter. The senior leadership of the Eagles stepping up to take over the game for Chesnee was no surprise to Coach Burns. "We have a great group of seniors here and I just can't say one bad thing about them," said Burns. "They come out every night and just do exactly what we ask them to do." While the Eagles came away with the victory after an impressive fourth quarter the Bulldogs had led at every break in the game before that as they were able to control a lot of the area around the rim thanks to great play from junior D'Marria Glenn and freshman Sarah Ezell. Glenn finished the night with twelve points and eight rebounds along with a steal while Ezell led all players on Friday night with thirteen rebounds. The Bulldogs also had a good night from senior guard Laisha Labra who had seven points in the game to go along with four steals. Chesnee will return to action on Tuesday as they start region play in a road matchup against Blacksburg. Boiling Springs will continue their out-of-region play on Tuesday as they travel to face Woodruff. Comments are closed.
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