When all the Christmas presents have been opened this holiday season there will still be one more present under the tree for local basketball fans as the Chesnee basketball team will host their fifth annual Chesnee Roundball Classic on December 27, 28, and 30th. The field contains teams beaming with accomplishments over the years in both South Carolina and North Carolina high school basketball. The first game of the tournament features High Point Academy and the Greer Yellow Jackets. High Point brings with it the prestige of being last year's 1A state champion that returns some key players from last year's team. They are team that shoots the ball well from the outside and is no stranger to playing in big game situations as their early season games have seen them competing against some tough competition like Gaffney, Wren, and Legion Collegiate. Greer had a young team last year that got a lot of experience and brings that experience into this season. They have a 6'4" post player in Jaleel Skinner who is averaging 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks so far this season. Skinner also teams up with 6'5" Cody Cowan who is averaging 11 points and 5 rebounds a game. The second game of the opening day features East Rutherford Cavaliers, a three time champion of the tournament, and Great Falls Red Devils, who have won ten state titles in the state of South Carolina. East Rutherford will be entering the tournament this season with notable change as they will be entering the tournament with a completely different head basketball coach as former coach Brad Levine left the school to take over as the coach at Crest High School. Levine was replaced by Larry Ross who is no stranger to the tournament as he was previously the head coach of the East Rutherford girl's team who has won the girl's bracket of the tournament in year's past. The Cavaliers are led by seniors Antonio Ledbetter who runs the offense with some help from shooter Owen Chapman and while the person leading the team may be different the Cavaliers bring some lofty expectations to a tournament that has basically been a second home for them in past seasons. Great Falls also is dealing with a coaching change as interim coach Alex Fair takes over for former basketball coach Jimmy Duncan who left to take over the athletic director job at Northwestern High School earlier this school year. The Red Devils like the Cavaliers bring with them some lofty expectations as they are ten time 1A state champion who fell just last season fell in a hard fought Upper State championship game to eventual state champion High Point. Great Falls brings with them one of the top players in the state and Winthrop commit Kelton Talford. Talford is a 6'7" post player who creates major problems for teams under the basket but can also play along the perimeter which only adds to the nightmares of most coaches scheming defenses to stop the Red Devils. The third game features the Boiling Springs Bulldogs who will face the Blacksburg Wildcats. Boiling Springs plays in one of the toughest regions in the state, Region II-5A, that contains three of the top 10 5A teams in the state. The Bulldogs are a young team as they graduated seven seniors last season but is a team that looks to use their athleticism to force defenses into making mistakes. The Bulldogs are led on offense by junior Corey Johnson who has scored over twenty points in two of his last four games and on his way to a third before going out to an injury against Broome two games ago. They also look to get key contributions from junior guard Cam Earls and sophomore Trey McManus who both have scored over twenty points a game at points this season. The Blacksburg Wildcats are a long and athletic team that loves to run a fast paced game forcing teams into trouble on defense and capitalizing on those turnovers to get easy buckets on offense. Jackson Gore is a 6'3" point guard who leads the Wildcats offense by attacking the rim and can also shoot from the outside. Gore also has a lot of help from 6'5" Shaun Garrison who can play any position from point guard to center and a lot like Talford from Great Falls is a matchup nightmare for most opposing coaches. The fourth game features the host Chesnee Eagles who will face the newest school in the Fort Mill area, the Catawba Ridge Copperheads. Chesnee is a team that was young last season and like Greer in the first matchup is looking to build on the experience they gained last season to put together a run this year. They are led by 6'2" junior guard Nyquille O'Fair who leads the Eagles in scoring averaging 14.4 points a game and over two steals a game. The Eagles also are getting some impressive post play from sophomore KJ Valentine who averages 7.6 points a game and seven rebounds a game while also getting key contributions from junior Cole Hoskyns who is averaging over seven points a game and almost five rebounds a game. The biggest unknown in the tournament this season is the Catawba Ridge Copperheads as they are in their first season of competition as the school just opened this fall. The team is 3-5 so far in their first season and are led on offense by junior guard Davante Gonzalez who is averaging 10.4 points a game with three steals a game while also getting over eight points a game from 6'7" junior Luke Krawczyk and 6'5" sophomore Carter Hendrick. Hendrick also leads the team in rebounds averaging almost seven rebounds a game. For fans looking to check out the Chesnee Roundball Classic tickets start at $5 or fans can buy a tournament pass for $20 which will be good for entry into all three days of the tournament. Games start each day at 3:00 PM and there will be concessions available each day of the tournament. Comments are closed.
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Chesnee Roundball Classic
Keep us with the Boiling Springs Sports Journal for continuing coverage of the tournament. Archives
December 2022
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