CHESNEE, S.C. – It was an all-York County showdown on Thursday night as Catawba Ridge faced off against crosstown rival Fort Mill Yellow Jackets, as the Copperheads set their sights on a second straight championship.
Tillman Chrisley picked the best time to score his lone points of the evening, as he drilled a three pointer from the wing as time expired, lifting Catawba Ridge to a 53-50 overtime victory over Fort Mill. “Anytime these two teams play, it’s always highly competitive,” said tournament director Andy Pitt. “They’re two very well-coached teams. For it to go into overtime and come down to a buzzer beater shot at the end, it was fitting because I feel like we had a good three days here at the Roundball Classic. It’s definitely something for all of these teams to build on moving forward to the post-Christmas grind of region play.” Entering the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets held a seven-point lead, but both sides had a hard time creating much separation in the stanza due to each side’s defense. Late in the frame, Fort Mill’s Zach Jennings and Catawba Ridge’s Owen Elliott traded triples, which brought the game to a 41-all deadlock with under two minutes to play in regulation. “You don’t come to this tournament in search of wins,” Pitt stated. “You come to this tournament with the teams that we have and the quality here to find out who you are. I think that everybody has a better sense of themselves after these three days because there were no easy games for anybody. “We had overtime games and others came down to making free throws. To end things the way that the championship game did on a buzzer beater just goes to show you how competitive this tournament was. It’s what we aim to do each year.” Three Copperheads finished in double figures, led by Grant Lovette with a game-high 21 points, while Lance Barnes had 14 and Owen Elliott notched 12 points, respectively. Braylen McCain led Fort Mill with 12 points along with AJ Washington (9) and Zach Jennings (8). Union County 62, Chesnee 39 The Yellow Jacket used a stingy defense and corralled 16 offensive rebounds in their victory over the Eagles. Kaylob Blanton scored a team-high 10 points for the Eagles, followed by Hayden Barnett with nine and Dawson Pruitt with eight, respectively. Union County was led by Ty Jeter with a game-high 12 points, along with 10 points from Keishawn Gibson. All-Tournament Selections – Keishawn Gibson (Union County), Daniel Wease (Chesnee) Hillcrest 75, Boiling Springs 45 After a tightly contested first half where each club had a player quickly find their way into double digit scoring, the Rams clamped down on both the offensive and defensive boards in the second 16 minutes of the contest. Tre Locklear tallied a team-high 19 points for Boiling Springs, along with 12 points from Dominque Johnson. Israel Hall paced the Rams with a game-high 28 points, followed by Brayden King with 18 points and Chavis Lee-Carter with 10. All-Tournament Selections – Brayden King (Hillcrest), Tre Locklear (Boiling Springs) Blacksburg 65, Broome 52 The Poole brothers – Brady and Coyie – combined to score all but five points for the Centurions against Blacksburg, including 29 between the two in the second half alone, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats withstood the Broome rally. Brady Poole scored a game-high 25 points, while Coyie added 22. Four Wildcats finished in double figures, led by Dre Buckson with 15 points, along with Wesley Bright (12), Kanye Tate (10), & Sam McSwain (10). All-Tournament Selections – Brady Poole (Broome), Sam McSwain (Blacksburg) -Justin Mathis CHESNEE, S.C. – Trailing by two points with time winding down in the fourth quarter, Union County needed a quick stop and basket against the Broome Centurions.
Enter Keishawn Gibson, who stole a Centurion pass at midcourt and sprinted downcourt for a fastbreak layup, tying the game at 49 with 1:04 left in regulation. It took an extra frame to decide the contest between two former region foes, but the Yellow Jackets escaped with a 63-60 victory. After the Centurions opened the game with a quick bucket, the Yellow Jackets used a 7-0 run to take a 10-8 lead after one quarter of play. The two teams played to a near-draw, as both teams scored 11 in the second frame, which added up to a 21-19 Union County advantage at the break. The Centurions used a 20 point third quarter to jump ahead 39-34 entering the fourth stanza, where both teams had a shot at the win in the waning moments but came up empty. Spanning the final minute of the extra period, the Yellow Jackets missed four of their last six shots from the charity stripe but managed to hang on for the win. Gibson and Brady Poole (Broome) each scored a game-high 25 points for their respective teams. Keyshon Harden and Jamal Judge also scored in double figures for the Yellow Jackets with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Coyie Pool added 15 for the Centurions. Broome will face Blacksburg at 3 PM on Thursday, while Union County clashes with Chesnee at 4:30. Fort Mill 52, Hillcrest 47 In the first semifinal game of the evening, it was quite the back-and-forth battle. Trailing by three early in the second quarter, the Hillcrest Rams used a 16-point frame – keyed by two Brayden King triples – to take a 25-21 lead into the halftime break. The Rams utilized an 11-3 run out of the intermission to build a double-digit lead, but then Fort Mill’s rally began, as they closed the deficit to 39-35 entering the final quarter. In the frame, Gabe Tooper led the Yellow Jackets on a 13-4 run to reclaim a 48-45 advantage with 1:47 to play. In total, Fort Mill held the Rams to eight points over the final eight minutes of regulation. Tooper finished with a game-high 21 points for the Yellow Jackets, while AJ Washington and Braylen McCain also added nine points each. Jeremiah Camara led Hillcrest with a team-high 14 points. Fort Mill will face defending Roundball Classic champion Catawba Ridge at 7:30 PM on Thursday, while Hillcrest will square off against Boiling Springs in the third-place game at 6 PM. CATAWBA RIDGE 66 BOILING SPRINGS 37 Boiling Springs carried into their game against Catawba Ridge a seven-game winning streak and for the first quarter it looked like it may continue but the last three quarters proved differently as the Bulldogs fell 66-37 to the Copperheads, the defending tournament champions. Boiling Springs held an 18-16 lead but from the start of the second quarter until the final buzzer sounded the Bulldogs were outscored 50-19 over the final three quarters. Catawba Ridge had two players score in double figures as Lance Barnees led all scorers with 20 points and was joined by Grant Lovette who added 17 points and seven rebounds. WJ Fowler led Boiling Springs with 12 points and Tre Locklear joined him in double figures with 11 points of his own. Boiling Springs will play Hillcrest in the third-place game at 6:00 PM while Catawba Ridge will play Fort Mill in the championship game at 7:30 PM. CHESNEE, SC - The first day of the 7th annual Chesnee Roundball Classic saw some competitive basketball and some stellar individual performances.
GAME ONE - HILLCREST 71 BROOME 51 The Broome Centurions started the tournament on a hot start taking an early 10-7 lead in the first quarter but soon after that it was all Hillcrest as they took a 22-12 lead at the end of the quarter. By halftime the Rams had extended their lead over the Centurions to 39-20 when the buzzer sounded. Hilllcrest was led by Chavis Lee-Carter who ended the game with a double-double scoring 12 points with 14 rebounds and three blocks. Brayden King led the Rams with 18 points while Israel Hall also finished in double figures with 12 points. Brady Poole led Broome and was the leading scorer in the game with 31 points. Hillcrest will play Fort Mill at 6:00 PM in the winner’s bracket while Broome will play Union County at 3:00 PM. GAME TWO - CATAWBA RIDGE 78 BLACKSBURG 42 In the second matchup of the day the Copperheads of Catawba Ridge, the defending tournament champions, used a big run to end the first half to push themselves to a 78-42 win over the Wildcats from Blacksburg. Catawba Ridge started the game on a 14-0 run as all five starters had scored in the first five minutes of the game. They used that run to take a 21-9 first quarter lead. Blacksburg fought back to start the second quarter as they started the first four minutes of the quarter on a 12-6 run to cut the Copperheads lead to six points at 27-21. The Copperheads used a 13-4 run over the last four minutes of the quarter to reestablish their lead to 40-25 when the halftime buzzer sounded. in the second half, Catawba Ridge outscored Blacksburg 38-17 to grab the 78-42 victory. Grant Lovette ended the game with a double-double for Catawba Ridge with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and seven steals. Zyan Hager also finished in double figures for the Copperheads with 20 points. Blacksburg was led by Sam McSwain who led all Wildcats with 20 points on Tuesday night. Catawba Ridge will face Boiling Springs/Chesnee in the championship bracket game at 7:30 PM while Blacksburg will face Boiling Springs/Chesnee at 4:30 PM. GAME THREE - FORT MILL 66 UNION COUNTY 43 In a matchup of the Yellow Jackets at the Chesnee Roundball Classic, it was the ones from Fort Mill that used a big second quarter to grab a 66-43 victory over the guys from Union County. Fort Mill took an early 17-11 lead at the end of the first quarter before using a big defensive performance in the second quarter to outscore Union County 15-4 in the quarter to claim a 32-15 halftime lead. The second half saw the two teams play a pretty even half as Fort Mill outscored Union County 34-28 on their way to the victory. Jamal Judge (11) and Ty Jeter (10) both finished in double figures scoring for Union County on Tuesday night. Gabriel Tooper led Fort Mill with 11 points as they had all but four players score a point on Tuesday night. GAME FOUR - BOILING SPRINGS 71 CHESNEE 39 Read recap of this game by clicking here. WEDNESDAY MATCHUPS: 3:00 PM - Broome vs Union County 4:30 PM - Chesnee vs Blacksburg 6:00 PM - Hillcrest vs Fort Mill 7:30 PM - Boiling Springs vs Catawba Ridge |
Chesnee Roundball Classic
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December 2022
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