LANDRUM, SC - On Monday after the Chesnee basketball team played a tiebreaker game against Greer Middle College for third place in the region and they fell to the Blazers 55-51 to get the fourth seed along with a trip to Abbeville to start the 2A playoffs on Thursday.
"We tried to speed them up some and it created some opportunities, but we couldn't take advantage of our chances," said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. "We missed some shots and had some untimely turnovers late, when you do that in a close game it's hard to win." In the first quarter Greer Middle jumped out to a 6-0 lead but the Eagles clawed their way back grabbing an 11-10 lead with just over a minute to go when Daniel Wease hit a three-pointer from the left corner to give Chesnee their first lead of the game and held a 13-10 lead when the quarter ended. Greer Middle took advantage of a bad shooting quarter for the Eagles in the second quarter as Chesnee just couldn't get a shot to fall as the Blazers outscored them 18-7 in the quarter for a 28-20 halftime lead. Chesnee started out the third quarter on a 4-0 run to get back within four points on a jump shot from Ty Dawkins from the right ride. After Dawkins basket, it was pretty much all KJ Valentine for the Eagles in the third quarter as he scored 12 of the 16 points for the Eagles in the quarter. Chesnee narrowed the Greer Middle lead to 40-36 as they headed into the final quarter. The fourth quarter saw another Chesnee player have a big quarter as sophomore Brady Poole took control of the Eagles offense scoring all 15 points for the Eagles in the quarter. Poole started the quarter with three-pointer from the left corner before tying the game at 40-40 on a free throw with just over seven minutes to go in the game. He gave Chesnee their first second half lead at 42-40 on a layup down the middle as it looked like the Eagles may be taking control of the game. Greer Middle battled back though as Diondre Durham scored eight points in the quarter for the Blazers as he continued to hit clutch shots in response to any Eagles lead. Durham scored 16 of his game high 23 points in the second half on Monday night. Over the final three minutes of the game the Eagles saw a one-point deficit stretched out to seven points as they couldn't overcome turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch. Both Valentine and Poole ended the game with double-doubles for the Eagles as KJ Valentine ended the game with 18 points, 15 rebounds, one block, and a steal while Poole ended the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and a steal. Chesnee will now travel to play Abbeville on Thursday night for the first round of the 2A playoffs after the Panthers defeated Christ Church in a tiebreaker on Monday night to win their region. Pitt said shrugging off this loss will be big as every team has to be ready to play each night once the playoffs begin. "We knew going into the game we were in the playoffs it was just a matter of where with the results of this game tonight," said Pitt. "Shrugging this loss off is important as we're only one of a few teams at the 2A level that will be playing in the playoffs, as only a few teams get this opportunity. It's a one game deal each night from here on out and we just got to leave it all out on the court each night." Pitt also added he's happy his seniors who missed out on this opportunity last year because of Covid get the chance to be a part of the playoffs this year. "We have some seniors that get this opportunity after the Covid year last year," said Pitt. "Having the seniors that missed out on this opportunity last year is big while it's also big for the younger guys to get this experience and being able to build on it moving forward." Comments are closed.
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