On Thursday night the Chesnee boys basketball team grabbed their third victory this week with a 51-46 road victory over the Broome Centurions. The victory will also be the last for the Eagles in 2020 as they won't return to the court until January.
After getting big wins over Laurens Academy and rival Chapman on Monday and Tuesday the Eagles came into Thursday night looking to keep the momentum going heading towards the new year. "I was proud of our effort tonight," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "It was big for us to pull out a win tonight on the road going into the Christmas break." Chesnee jumped out to a 14-13 lead in the first quarter behind a strong quarter from Nyquille O'Fair who came away with five points in the opening quarter. In the second quarter Chesnee jumped out to a nine point lead off a nice run that was started by a big dunk from KJ Valentine off a nice pass from Jeremiah Burgess. They also got a strong quarter from Cole Hoskyns who led all scorers in the quarter with eight points as the Eagles held on to a 29-24 lead at halftime. "I thought our post guys were solid tonight on both ends of the court," said Pitt. "We also got some good minutes from Jeremiah Burgess and Ty Dawkins tonight. Jeremiah's defense really stood out as he was able to draw two separate five second violations." In the third quarter Broome scored the first six points of the quarter to tie the game and outscored Chesnee 10-4 in the quarter to take a 34-33 lead heading into the final quarter of play. The Centurions were led by Adam Comer who scored six of Broome's ten points in the quarter. After Broome took the lead the game went back and forth down the stretch until about two minutes left in the game when the Eagles were able to take a four point lead. Nyquille O'Fair scored seven of the team's eighteen points in the quarter and was aided by some key free throw shooting from his teammates down the stretch to help seal the victory. "Nyquille made some major plays tonight for us and scored some buckets at critical times," said Pitt. "We also got some key free throws down the stretch to help pick up the victory." Chesnee was led in scoring by O'Fair who finished the night with seventeen points and was followed closely behind by Cole Hoskyns who scored sixteen points on Thursday night. Broome was led on Thursday night by Dylan Ramirez who scored seventeen points and he wasn't the only Centurion in double figures as Adam Comer had fourteen points of his own. The Eagles will return to action on January 5th with a home region matchup against Brashier Middle College. After the Chesnee girls defeated Chapman earlier in the night the Eagles boys basketball team made it a clean sweep of their rival by defeating the Panthers 61-49 on Tuesday night. "It was a nice win for us to get at home," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "I'm proud of our guys being able to implement a game plan with no practice days." The Eagles got the game started quick behind a strong performance from junior KJ Valentine who scored six points in the first quarter. Chesnee trailed 7-4 with three minutes to go in the first quarter before finishing on an 11-7 run to claim a 15-14 lead at the end of the quarter. "I felt like KJ set the tone early for us," said Pitt. "We had an advantage on the inside so it was key for us to get it in there to KJ and Cole Hoskyns. I also felt like Drew had some minutes for us as well." Valentine said that the team was focused on coming out strong to start the game. "Our mindset coming into this game was to come out and win," said Valentine. "We were really focused in the locker room and we came out and played well." In the second quarter both teams were tied at twenty with five minutes to go in the quarter when the Eagles started an 11-0 run that lasted for the next three minutes of the game and started from the free throw line as Brady Poole and Cole Hoskyns combined to hit four of five free throws. The Eagles also got key contributions from their bench during the run as they extended their one point first quarter lead to eleven when the halftime buzzer sounded leading 33-22. "The run in the second was big," said Pitt. "You saw bench guys like Ty Dawkins and Praise Edrington play key minutes for us. I thought Jeremiah Burgess also did a fine job tonight as having guys like that step up is huge." The eleven point run turned into the key difference in the game as it was a difference that the Panthers were never able to overcome. In the third quarter the Eagles outscored the Panthers 19-18 as Brady Poole and Praise Edrington combined to score ten of the team's nineteen points. In the fourth quarter both teams scored nine points a piece leading to the win for the Eagles. KJ Valentine ended the game with a double-double as he scored twelve points and registered twelve rebounds. Valentine and Cole Hoskyns had another great game in the post as Hoskyns came away with six points to go along with nine rebounds and Valentine said their advantage in the post is something they want to take advantage of each game. "This year we're bigger and better in the post and we want to take advantage of that," said Valentine. "We want to get every rebound on offense and defense along with getting the put backs on offense." Brady Poole led the Eagles offense with fifteen points on Tuesday night. Chapman had two players finish in double figures as Banks Atkins led with eighteen points and Miles Carter finished the game with fourteen points. Lady Eagles Use Runs And Strong Defense To Defeat PanthersThe Chesnee girls basketball team used a big first quarter run to put themselves ahead early and used that momentum to defeat Chapman 49-36 on Tuesday night.
"It's great putting up two strong games back to back especially on defense," said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. "It's always a good day when you can pick up a win but even better when you can pick up over your rival who is a very strong team." Chesnee was trailing 7-4 at the five minute mark in the first quarter but went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter that included senior Jessa Beach grabbing a rebound and putting the ball in the hoop as the buzzer sounded to claim a 14-7 lead. Chesnee got another big night from their backcourt as Shenandoah Bishop and Kymiah Blair combined for fourteen of the team's twenty steals in the game. It was Bishop who led the Eagles scoring attack in the first half though as she scored eight points to go along with four steals. "Shenandoah is one of those guards that can read the whole court and does a good job at reading defenses," said Burns. "She does a great job of sneaking back on defense to get us some easy points." Bishop said that starting out strong is big for the team and sets the tone which is what she done on Tuesday ight. "With us starting off strong sets our tone for the game early," said Bishop. "However we start the game off tends to last throughout the game so getting off to a good start was big and gets us pumped to play the rest of the game." In the third quarter the backcourt duo got back to work as they combined to score all seventeen of the Eagles points with Kymiah Blair scoring eleven of those points as Chesnee held a 43-23 lead after three quarters of play. "Kymiah always gives you one-hundred and ten percent when she's on the court," said Burns. "It doesn't matter what you ask her to do because she's going to do it and do it to the best of her ability and as a coach you can't ask for more than that." In the fourth quarter the Panthers outscored the Eagles 13-6 but it wasn't enough and Chesnee came away with the victory. Jessa Beach had another strong night rebounding on Tuesday night as she recorded sixteen rebounds including eleven of those coming in the second half to go along with seven points and two steals. "They done a good job shutting me down there scoring but I worked hard to get those rebounds to help our guards accomplish what they done out front," said Beach. "I wanted to make sure I did my part to help the team win. Once I realized how they were going to cover me during the game I repositioned myself to make sure I was in better spots to get the rebounds." Coach Burns said that she appreciates the efforts by Beach to contribute to the team even when getting a lot of the defenses attention because it's something she understands from her own playing career. "As a former post player I know what it's like to get frustrated under the basket like how they were trying to do to Jessa," said Burns. "When they try to take you away offensively that's when you have do more defensively and around the boards and that's exactly what she done tonight." Kymiah Blair led the Eagles offensively with seventeen points with eight steals and three rebounds. She was followed closely by Shenandoah Bishop who scored sixteen points to go along with six steals and four rebounds. Chapman was led offensively by Krislyn Wilder and Farrah Grohs who both scored nine points followed closely by Caroline Garner who finished the night with eight points. Chesnee will get back to action on Thursday as they travel to Broome in a non-region matchup. Chesnee used a dominant second half along with a strong defensive effort to capture a 59-15 victory over Laurens Academy on Monday night.
"I feel like we shot the ball a lot better tonight than we did last week," said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. "We had a hard time scoring last week but tonight I think it got our girl's confidence up and I saw a lot of areas where we have improved." The Eagles got a big night from their senior backcourt duo of Kymiah Blair and Shenandoah Bishop who combined to score thirty-one points along with coming away with sixteen of the team's thirty-four steals on Monday night. "Kymiah and Shenandoah bring a lot of intensity to the court," said Burns. "They help us speed the game up and bring a lot of pressure to the other team's ballhandlers. Tonight they just played an excellent game." Bishop and Blair came into Monday night's game believing they might have a chance to have a big game. "Tonight was big about getting pressure on the guards because we thought we could get some big steals coming into the game," said senior guard Kymiah Blair. "Once we put the pressure on them we were able to pick up the steals and finish with layups." Fellow guard Shenandoah Bishop seconded the thoughts of Blair saying, "We came into this game just wanting to be aggressive and we did just that." At the end of the first quarter the game was close as the Eagles led 11-7 but in the second quarter the Eagles defense came to life holding Laurens Academy to only six points in the quarter to hold a 32-13 halftime lead. Bishop and Blair accounted for eighteen first half points along with eight steals when the buzzer sounded to end the half. Chesnee continued the defensive pressure in the second half as they held Laurens Academy to two points in the second half. Blair led the team in scoring in the third quarter with seven points while Bishop led the team in the fourth quarter with six points of her own. They also got a strong second half from senior Jamaya Evans who scored eight of her ten points in the second half to go along with four rebounds and four steals. Jessa Beach led the Eagles in rebounds with eight on Monday night but was trailed closely by junior Brie Smith with seven rebounds to go along with her six points and four steals. Coach Burns says that Smith being able to play several different places on the court has helped take pressure off other players on the team. "Brie is right behind Jessa in rebounds because you can always count on her to get in great rebounding position," said Burns. "She takes a little pressure off Jessa in the post and she can play anywhere on the court I need her to play." Kymiah Blair led all scorers with eighteen points to go along with nine steals and three rebounds while Shenandoah Bishop finished the game with thirteen points, seven steals, and three rebounds. In the boys game Chesnee used a 39-5 run over the second and third quarters to claim a 59-21 victory over Laurens Academy. Chesnee was led by freshman Brady Poole who scored eighteen points with fourteen of those coming in the first half. KJ Valentine also scored in double figures registering ten points, eight rebounds, and two steals. Cole Hoskyns led the Eagles in rebounding with ten rebounds to go along with six points, four steals, and two blocks. Jermiah Burgess led the Eagles scoring in the second half with six of his nine total points on Monday night. Chesnee will return to action on Tuesday night in a home game against Chapman before finishing the week out on Thursday at Broome. On Friday night Chesnee got a strong outing from their post players to improve to 2-0 in region player after a 70-42 victory over Blacksburg.
"It was big coming back and playing a team twice in a week, which is a new protocol this deal this year," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "The kids worked hard tonight and we made adjustments which paid off. Our team sitting at 2-0 after the first week of region play is big heading into three non-region games before the break. Our staff and kids have done a tremendous job this week and I'm really proud of them." The Eagles got the game started on a hot streak behind an impressive quarter from freshman Brady Poole who led Chesnee scoring seven of the team's eighteen first quarter points as the Eagles held an 18-13 lead at the end of the quarter. "Brady put pressure on Blacksburg especially early," said Pitt. "He put them in a tough spot early causing them to get into some foul trouble." In the second quarter Chesnee started the quarter on a 10-0 run behind great play from their post players as KJ Valentine and Cole Hoskyns combined to score eight of the team's sixteen points in the quarter on their way to a 34-20 halftime lead. The duo combined for fourteen points, eleven rebounds, and two steals in the first half. "I thought we were solid in the post all night," said Pitt. "We have a size advantage that we haven't had in a number of years. Tonight Cole and KJ were big for us inside and I also thought Drew gave us some big minutes off of the bench." Hoskyns started the second half with a layup but it was senior Lorenzo Duren who led the Eagles in the third quarter with five points. Duren had a good all around game finishing with five points, two rebounds, two steals, and two blocked shots. "Lorenzo does a good getting us into what we want to do," said Pitt. "His senior leadership to our team is invaluable." Valentine started the fourth quarter on a 4-0 run of his own that started the Eagles on a 21-10 run to finish out the final quarter as they also got four points in the quarter from both Poole and Jeremiah Burgess. KJ Valentine finished the night with a double-double registering eighteen points, ten rebounds, and three steals. Brady Poole finished the game with eleven points while Cole Hoskyns led the team in rebounds with eleven to go along with eight points. With the win Coach Pitt was happy with the results but wants to make sure his team keeps that intensity as the season goes along. "We have to keep our level of intensity up all season long," said Pitt. "This year more than any ever guys will need to be ready to step up in a moments notice." In the girls game the Chesnee only trailed 30-18 at halftime but a 25-11 advantage for Blacksburg in the second half gave the Wildcats a 55-29 victory over the Eagles. Blacksburg finished the night with three players in double figures as Essence Caviness led all scorers with nineteen points followed by Mikala Logan with seventeen points and Danica Henderson with ten points. The Eagles were led by senior Jessa Beach who finished the game with seven points, twelve rebounds, six blocks, and four steals. Chesnee will return to the court next week for three games starting with home games against Laurens Academy on Monday and Chapman on Tuesday before finishing the week at Broome on Thursday night. The Chesnee Eagles went on the road Tuesday night to open region play and came away with a 57-48 win over Blacksburg.
"When you go to Blacksburg you know it's always going to be tough and tonight was no different," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "We've got to clean up some things as we go along this season. We've got to take better care of the ball along with finishing scoring opportunities more consistently in the paint and at the free throw line." Chesnee jumped out to a 16-10 lead in the first quarter and were led by senior Nyquille O'Fair and freshman Brady Poole who combined to score nine of the team's sixteen first quarter points. In the second quarter Blacksburg was able to close the lead to 27-24 when the halftime buzzer sounded but the Eagles held on to the lead behind a big quarter from Cole Hoskyns who scored eight of the team's eleven points in the quarter. After halftime Chesnee repeated their first half performance outscoring Blacksburg 16-10 behind play from post players KJ Valentine and Andrew Gregory who combined to score nine of the team's sixteen points in the third quarter to grab a 43-34 lead heading into the final quarter. Ty Wilson led Blacksburg in the third quarter as he scored eight of the Wildcats ten points in the quarter. The final quarter saw both teams battle to an even quarter and allowed Chesnee to hold on to their nine point lead and capture their first region win of the season. Chesnee had three players finish in double figures as Cole Hoskyns led all scorers with fifteen points while Brady Poole came away with thirteen points and Nyquille O'Fair finished the game with eleven points. Blacksburg's Ty Wilson led all scorers on Tuesday night as he finished the game with seventeen points. In the girls game #10 Blacksburg came away with a 65-50 win over Chesnee as three Wildcats finished in double figures as Tyty Tate led all scorers with seventeen points. Kymiah Blair led the Eagles in scoring with fifteen points while Shenandoah Bishop also finished in double figures with ten points. Both Eagles teams will play again on Friday night as they host Blacksburg in another region matchup. Chesnee 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. Bulldogs Outlast Eagles In District Two BattleBoiling 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 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 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. Chesnee got a strong performance from a freshman and two seniors who helped push the Eagles to a 62-52 win over Broome on Tuesday night. "It feels really good to pull out the win,” said Chesnee senior Praise Edrington. “I like the confidence we have going into to the season." Eagles senior Cole Hoskyns made a layup thirty seconds into the game and was followed up by a three from freshman Brady Poole, his first of five threes on the night, to give the Eagles an early 5-0 lead. Hoskyns scored five of his seven first half points in the first quarter as he helped give the Eagles a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Chesnee senior Nyquille O'Fair took over in the second quarter as he scored seven of the Eagles fifteen points. O'Fair also hit a pair of big shots as Broome pulled closer to the Eagles in the quarter. After Adam Comer hit a layup to pull Broome within two with just over three minutes to go in the half, O'Fair responded with a shot of his own to double the Eagles lead. Just under a minute later Markus Lindsey sank a three pointer to pull Broome within one before O'Fair responded with a three of his own to give Chesnee a 32-29 halftime lead. After Broome took a brief lead at 33-32 Eagles freshman Brady Poole responded with a three pointer to give the Eagles the lead. Broome quickly recaptured the lead on a three from Dylan Ramirez before Poole responded with another three. After Poole's first four made field goals came from behind the three point line his first basket from inside the line may have been the biggest as it put the Eagles in front for good with over two and a half minutes to go in the third. The basket was also part of a 15-2 run to end the third quarter as KJ Valentine and Brady Poole combined for thirteen of the fifteen points during the run. In the fourth quarter O’Fair scored five of the Eagles nine points in the quarter to stave off a Centurion comeback attempt and pick up the victory. Brady Poole led all scorers with twenty-three points as Nyquille O'Fair added twelve for the Eagles and Cole Hoskyns added another nine points of his own. "Something we haven't had in a while is a guy who can consistently shoot the three ball,” said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt about the performance by freshman Brady Poole. “It's nice to know he is a freshman.” Adam Comer and Kendre Sinclair led the Centurions with seventeen points each on Tuesday night. Chesnee will be back in action on Friday as they host Boiling Springs in a matchup against their district counterpart. Girls GameChesnee’s girls basketball team continued their hot start improving to 3-0 by downing Broome 29-23 on Tuesday night.
"It feels great to start 3-0,” said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. “We did some things well but we still have some things we need to continue to improve on." "It's a good way to start off the season,” said senior Jessa Beach. “As a team we have to continue to progress." Kymiah Blair got the scoring started as she made a layup before hitting free throws after a foul. Four different Eagles scored in the quarter as Chesnee built a 9-2 lead at the end of the quarter. Broome went on a 9-0 run to tie the game up when Lacy Harris sunk a free throw to tie the game with just under three and a half minutes left in the second half. Chesnee quickly responded with back-to-back baskets from Brie Smith and Jessa Beach to take a 13-9 lead into the half time break. Broome pulled back to within a point with four and a half minutes to go in the third quarter as Harris sank another big shot but Chesnee used an 8-1 run to close out the quarter as Heaven Kinnison and Jessa Beach made back-to-back baskets to push the lead to 21-13 after three quarters of play. Broome scored four points in the final minute of the game but was unable to complete the comeback. Broome's Tashayla Miller led all scorers with eleven points as Lacy Harris also added eight points for the Centurions. Jessa Beach finished with a double-double as she scored ten points and collected fourteen rebounds on Tuesday night while Brie Smith also added ten points. |
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