Chesnee wrestling won the region championship on Friday night with a 61-18 win over Landrum.
"These kids have been amazing,” said Chesnee head coach Jon Rentz. “I can’t say enough about my coaching staff as well and our strength coach David Jones. I’m just so proud of our kids, parents and coaches." The region tournament was a bit unusual as Landrum and Chesnee were the only two teams to compete in the region this season after other schools decided not to field a team this year. Chesnee honored seniors Corey Seay, Jose Guzman, Brayden Sprinkle, and Trevor Blankenship before the match and it was a great for all three as they all walked away with individual region titles. Guzman won at 285 while Seay won at 195 and Blankenship won at 152. In total Chesnee finished with eleven wrestlers as individual region champions as Noah Gottschalk(106), Noah Wise(113), Arden Mendoza (120), Austin Bigford (145), Garrett Williams (160), Bryson Wallace (170), Dylan Jolley (182), and Nick Hofer (220) also claimed titles in their respective weight classes. Chesnee will now wait until the AA seeding meeting on February 11th to see what the playoff picture looks like for the Eagles. Landrum used a balanced attack to down Chesnee 70-62 on Friday night to collect their ninth region win of the season.
Cole Hoskyns made the opening basket of the game for the Eagles and after the teams traded baskets the Cardinals went on a 14-4 run to close out the quarter sparked by seven points from Mason Raines. The run propelled the Cardinals to an 18-10 lead after the first quarter of play. As he did in the team's earlier matchup, Isaiah Washington made his presence felt in the second quarter as he scored seven points in the quarter. Four of those points bookended a 12-0 run by the Cardinals. Washington also completed a three point play with five seconds to go in the half to give Landrum a 35-22 halftime lead. The Eagles came out strong to open the third quarter as KJ Valentine and Brady Poole scored back to back baskets to spark an 8-0 run to pull Chesnee to within five. Landrum quickly expanded the lead back to nine with back to back baskets from Marco Gonzalez and Isaiah Washington. Another Brady Poole basket pulled the Eagles within four but an 8-2 run by the Cardinals gave them a ten point cushion heading into the fourth quarter. A big play in the game was when Landrum’s Mason Raines hit a shot from just inside the half court stripe as the clock hit zero heading into the final quarter. Chesnee came out strong once again as they pulled to within six points after a bucket from Nyquille O'Fair but the Cardinals once again responded with another run this time an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 64-49. The Eagles were able to cut the lead to under double digits with less than a minute to go but couldn't get any closer. Landrum's Mason Raines led all scorers with 19 points while Isaiah Washington and Cooper Gentry joined Raines in double figures for the Cardinals. Washington scored 14 points and Gentry added 13 points of his own. Brady Poole and KJ Valentine led the Eagles with 13 points apiece while Nyquille O'Fair joined them in double-figures with 10 points on Friday night. The Eagles will travel to Crescent on Tuesday for a 6pm tipoff. Landrum got a big night from Isaiah Washington to down Chesnee 73-62 on Tuesday night to clinch the Region II-2A championship.
Ethan Dugat scored back to back baskets for the Cardinals to open the game but Chesnee was able to close the quarter on a 9-5 run behind three pointers from Michael Paslawski and Nyquille O'Fair along with an old-fashioned three point play by Brady Poole as the Eagles led 16-15 after the 1st quarter. Washington started to establish his presence in the second quarter as he scored nine of the Cardinals twenty points in the quarter as seven of his points came during a 13-6 run by Landrum in the middle of the second quarter. The run helped the Cardinals build a 35-27 halftime lead. Chesnee fought back to open the second half as an O'Fair three pointer and a KJ Valentine layup cut the Cardinal lead to three. Washington once again came up big as he scored all seven points during a 7-2 run for the Cardinals to stretch the lead back out to eight. Washington scored twelve points in the third quarter, outdoing his second quarter performance as the Cardinals extended their lead to twelve points. Chesnee got a bucket from Cole Hoskyns with under a minute to go in the third that sparked an 8-0 run the carried into the fourth and cut the lead to 55-49 in favor of the Cardinals. Once again Washington answered the bell for the Cardinals as he sank a three pointer as he scored nine points in the quarter to prevent an Eagle comeback. Washington scored a game high 32 points for the Cardinals in the game as Spencer Harmon also had big night off the bench for Landrum with 14 points of his own. The Eagles had eight players dressed on Tuesday night and all eight registered a bucket along with four players finishing the game in double-figures. Nyquille O'Fair led the Eagles with 17 points while Brady Poole added 13 points along with KJ Valentine and Cole Hoskyns each adding 11 points each. "They all battled," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "That's something you can say about all eight of them is they fought until the very end." These two teams will meet again on Friday night at Landrum. The Chesnee Lady Eagles used a strong scoring attack to down the Greer Middle College Lady Blazers 71-52 to pick up another region victory on Friday night.
"This is a big win for us as it boosts the team moral,” said Chesnee assistant coach Jasia Martin. “It gives us momentum heading into the final games of the season." The Blazers got out to an early 6-2 lead but the Eagles responded as Kymiah Blair and Jessa Beach combined for twelve points in the first quarter to give Chesnee a 16-11 lead at the end of the quarter. The duo finished the quarter on a 6-0 run with Beach completing the old fashioned three point play and Blair sinking the first of her two three pointers with ten seconds left in the quarter. Blair took over the game in the second and third quarters as she scored eighteen of her game high thirty-two points over the two quarters to spark the Eagles to a 55-34 lead at the end of the third quarter. Crisp passing and strong play on defense by the Eagles front court duo of Blair and Shenandoah Bishop is what sparked the big lead as Bishop also added nine points in the middle quarters. "We came motivated on defense were and ready to play,” said Martin. “We have come out sluggish the past few games and tonight we wanted to come out and play motivated on defense early on." "We practice hard and run drills in practice that focus on passing and defense,” said Chesnee senior Kymiah Blair. “That helped us tonight." The Blazers tried to make a comeback late as they ended the game on a 12-4 run but the Eagles lead was too much to overcome. Blair's 32 points led three Eagles players in double figures as Jessa Beach finished with 13 points and Shenandoah Bishop added 11 points of her own. Brie Smith nearly reached the double figure mark with nine points while Jamekia Evans added six points. Haven Mason led the Blazers with 20 points and Jasmine Norris added 12 points as the Blazers had seven different players register a basket. The Lady Eagles next scheduled game is Friday at Landrum. Boys Game The Greer Middle College Blazers used a big run to close out the first half to down the Chesnee Eagles 83-65 in the boys game on Friday night. The first quarter saw back and forth action as the game was tied or the lead changed hands a total of eight different times. The final scoring change of the quarter happened on a Jamauri Donald bucket with under a minute to go to give the Blazers a 17-15 lead after the first quarter. The Eagles jumped out to a 27-21 lead with just over five minutes left in the second quarter but Blazers proceeded to go on a 20-4 run to close out the quarter. The run was sparked by back-to-back threes by Musa Muriithi to tie the game before Capri Smith made a layup to put the Blazers in front for good. Chesnee used a 6-2 run to pull within six points of the Blazers to open the third quarter but the Blazers once again closed out the quarter on a run, this time it was a 13-6 run sparked by six more points from Capri Smith. The fourth quarter turned out to be a battle of players wearing the number one on their jerseys as Chesnee's Nyquille O'Fair and Greer Middle College's Capri Smith combined for twenty-seven points in the quarter. The back and forth pace benefitted Greer Middle College as the Eagles were unable to cut into the Blazers lead. The Blazers sank seven out of eight free throws down the stretch to pull out the 83-65 win in region play. Nyquille O'Fair was one of two Eagles players to finish in double figures as he had 17 points and Brady Poole finished with 16 points of his own. Cole Hoskyns also added nine points for the Eagles. The Blazers’ Capri Smith led all scorers with 28 points and was one of four Blazers in double figures as Jamauri Donald finished with 16 points while Jack Pfister added 11 points and Allen Kuria picked up 10 points. The Eagles will host the Landrum Cardinals on Tuesday. Chesnee started the new week with an impressive 68-55 win over the fourth ranked team in 2A, the Greer Middle College Blazers, to improve to 4-3 in region play.
Chesnee started the game off slow as they fell behind 20-13 at the end of the first quarter as Allen Kuria had an impressive first quarter for the Blazers scoring nine of the team's twenty first quarter points. In the second quarter is where the Eagles made their run as they used a tough defensive effort and strong play from their post players to outscore the Blazers 24-9 in the quarter and claim a 37-29 halftime lead. Chesnee's KJ Valentine and Andrew Gregory combined to score eighteen of the Eagles points in the quarter as six different Eagles scored in the quarter including nine rebounds for Valentine at the half. "We started off slow but found a way to get some easy buckets in the second quarter and combined that with some defensive stops to really get us going," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "KJ Valentine and Andrew Gregory were really good in the second quarter and Nyquille O'Fair done a good job on a tough defensive assignment. Our strong rebounding also helped in that run in the second quarter." The impressive defense by the Eagles continued into the second half as Chesnee held the Blazers to nine points in the third quarter outscoring them 14-9 and claiming a 51-37 lead heading into the final quarter. Nyquille O'Fair and Brady Poole combined to score ten of the Eagles points in the quarter. Greer Middle College was able to outscore the Eagles in the fourth quarter 18-17 but it wasn't enough as the Eagles picked up the big region victory. The Eagles were strong from the foul line as they went twelve of seventeen from the line including five of five by freshman Brady Poole. Brady Poole led the Eagles in scoring with 20 points on Tuesday night while Lorenzo Duren had 11 points of his own including four straight free throws in the fourth quarter. KJ Valentine finished the game with a double-double getting 18 points and 18 rebounds. Allen Kuria led the Blazers with 21 points and was joined in double figures by Jack Pfister who scored 12 points on Tuesday night. The Eagles and Blazers will match up again in another region matchup at Chesnee on Friday night. Chesnee fell to St. Joseph’s on Tuesday at home but got revenge for their loss by picking up a 59-54 road victory against the Knights on Friday night.
”I’m proud of our guys tonight as the win was a big time group effort,” said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. “We had guys step up in some big moments as our starters played well but we had some guys really answer the call off the bench and that was huge for us tonight.” The first quarter saw the Eagles trailing 14-10 because of a huge first quarter from the Knights Gannon Stockton who scored twelve of his game high 23 points in the first quarter. In the second quarter the Eagles were able to stay close as the Knights outscored the Eagles 13-12 in the quarter to give St. Joseph’s a 27-22 halftime lead. The Eagles were able to keep it close thanks to the contributions from Michael Paslawski who scored five of Chesnee’s points in the quarter along with other key members of the Eagles bench. ”Michael knocked down a couple of three pointers there in the first half and played well on defense all night,” said Pitt. “Praise Edrington and Carson Williamson also gave us some big minutes tonight. We’ve told our reserves they have to be ready when their number is called on and man they did that tonight.” Chesnee found its moment in the third quarter as they outscored the Knights 19-11 to grab a 41-38 lead at the end of the quarter. Paslawski hit the three pointer at the end of the third quarter to put the Eagles ahead in the game but he was joined by four other Eagles who scored in the quarter including Nyquille O’Fair who led the way with six points in the deciding quarter. In the fourth quarter the Eagles were able to fend off the Knights who attempted to retake the lead but Chesnee outscored St. Joseph’s 18-16 in the quarter behind some clutch free throw shooting. The Eagles went eleven of eighteen from the free throw line in the final quarter with Lorenzo Duren leading the way making six of nine free throws. While Chesnee didn’t have the overall leading scorer in the game they did end up with four different players scoring in double figures as Nyquille O’Fair, Michael Paslawski, and KJ Valentine all scored 11 points each with Brady Poole finishing just behind the trio with 10 points. Gannon Stockton finished the night with 23 points for the Knights and teammates Jalen Gibson, 13 points, and Ben Saunders, 10 points, both scored in double figures as well. Chesnee will be back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Greer Middle College for another region matchup. Chesnee led early on Tuesday night but a 16-5 run by St. Joseph's from the end of the first quarter to midway through the second quarter helped lead the #4 ranked Knights to a 51-39 win over the Eagles in region play.
"Early in the second quarter we went on a stretch where we couldn't get a bucket and that was huge," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "Our guys in the post are some of our strengths and St. Joseph's done a good job against them tonight. Every time one of our guys got the ball in the post they were doubling down and not letting us get a good look at the basket." St. Joseph's held a 7-5 lead midway through the first quarter as the Eagles were able to keep it close early but the Knights ended the quarter on a 10-5 run to hold a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Senior Gannon Stockton led the way in the quarter for the Knights with seven points. In the second quarter the Eagles held the Knights to only six points over the first four minutes of the quarter but were unable to find the basket themselves as St. Joseph's held a 23-10 lead halfway through the second quarter before Chesnee freshman Brady Poole was able to end the Eagles drought with a jump shot. The Eagles finished the quarter outscoring the Knights 8-5 behind four points a piece from Poole and senior Nyquille O'Fair to put the St. Joseph's lead at 28-18 when the halftime buzzer sounded. St. Joseph's outscored the Eagles 10-7 in the third quarter to extend their lead to 38-25 behind a big quarter from senior Ben Saunders who scored six of the Knights' ten points in the quarter. Chesnee opened the fourth quarter on a 6-2 run, that was jump started by a three pointer from senior Lorenzo Duren, to cut the Knights lead to nine points but the Eagles weren't able to get any closer. The Eagles outscored the Knights in the fourth quarter 14-13 as they got six points in the quarter from O'Fair. "I thought our pressure forced a few turnovers there early to help get us some quick shots but they were able to hit a couple of shots that turned into back breakers for us," said Pitt. "We got it down to nine a couple of times and we were right there but we couldn't get a stop or we missed a shot. We just couldn't piece together a run to close the gap any further but our guys fought to the very end." St. Joseph's got a big night from Ben Saunders who registered a double-double with fifteen points and fifteen rebounds while Gannon Stockton led all scorers with seventeen points. They were joined in double figures by junior Jalen Gibson who scored thirteen points on Thursday night. Chesnee were led on Tuesday night by Nyquille O'Fair who scored fourteen points and was followed closely by Brady Poole who scored ten points. KJ Valentine led the Eagles in rebounds with ten while adding two blocks. While the outcome isn't what the Eagles had hoped for on Tuesday night they'll get a chance to reverse their fortune on Friday night in a road rematch against the same St. Joseph's team. "We get another chance at them Friday night though and we're excited about that," said Pitt. "Regardless of what happened tonight we're still in the hunt for a playoff spot and we're going to keep fighting towards that." After falling to Brashier Middle College on Tuesday night on a last second shot at home the Chesnee girls basketball team returned the favor on Thursday night as they picked up a 32-30 road victory over the Bengals.
In a game that was moved up to Thursday because of expected inclement weather on Friday, Brashier took over from where they left off Tuesday and jumped out to a 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter behind five points from Caroline Roller. Chesnee was led in the quarter by senior Jessa Beach who scored four of the team's eight points in the quarter. The second quarter saw Chesnee was able to cut into the Brashier lead as they outscored the Bengals 9-8 in the quarter to put the halftime lead at 18-17 in favor of the Bengals. Chesnee had four different players score in the quarter with Jamekia Evans coming up with a big three pointer that gave the Eagles the advantage in the quarter. After halftime both teams struggled to find the basket but Brashier was able to push their advantage back to three points as they outscored the Eagles 6-5 in the quarter to hold a 24-22 lead heading into the final quarter. In the fourth quarter the Eagles used their strong pressure defense to attack the Bengals and used a 10-6 run in the fourth quarter to capture the victory and even out the series between the two region opponents. The Eagles got a big night from their post players as Jessa Beach led Chesnee in scoring with ten points while Brie Smith added ten rebounds to go along with her six points. Caroline Roller led the Bengals and all scorers on Thursday night with twelve points. In the boy's game Chesnee fell 53-38 on Thursday night after losing a tough one in overtime 65-62 on Tuesday night. Chesnee will return to action on Tuesday in a home game against St. Joseph’s in another region matchup. |
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