Christian Academy defeats Orangeburg Prep 67-42 in SCISA AAA boys quarterfinal game
Greenwood Christian tops Hilton Head Christian 72-66
Sumter – Orangeburg Prep boys basketball head coach Al Hay knew his team would have its hands full against Christian Academy’s backcourt in their SCISA AAA state tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday at Sumter Civic Center.
The Saints though were a bit better than advertised, at least in this game. They hit 6 of 7 3-point shots in the first half to open a 37-25 halftime lead and rolled on to a 67-42 victory.
Christian Academy, which improved to 21-8 on the season, will meet Greenwood Christian School in a semifinal game on Thursday at 5 p.m. at the civic center. Greenwood Christian defeated Hilton Head Christian Academy 72-66 on Tuesday, also at the civic center.
“We needed them to miss some of those kind of shots. It was tough, but we knew their guard play was tough,” said Hay, whose team finished with an 18-8 record. "Our advantage was more to take it to the basket, get it inside and get their big guy in foul trouble, which would have allowed us a little bit more freedom underneath. They did a great job.”
Christian Academy head coach Marion Busby said long distance shooting has been a strength all season. The Saints took a different approach to open that up even more.
"We wanted them to start off driving and getting in the paint and then let that open up the 3-point line,” Busby said. “That worked out pretty good for us tonight.”
Christian Academy raced out to a 9-2 advantage, but the Indians were able to keep the game close. They pulled within 24-18 with 4:31 left in the first half when Christian Academy hit consecutive treys to make it 30-18. OP never got closer than eight points the remainder of the game.
Brayden Hendrix had a monster game for the Saints, finishing with 32 points. Ayden Leith had 15, Sabian Sessions nine and Jack Green eight.
Austin Hall and Tilden “T” Riley, Orangeburg Prep’s presence on the inside, finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Avery Ravenell had seven.
Hay had no complaints on the season his team put together.
“Overall we had a great season,” Hay said. “We had a couple of young players who are sophomores (Riley and Ravenell) who are really good players. Plus, we had several seniors who showed good leadership and did a good job all season.”
The OP seniors are Hall, Jay Plummer and Harris Holstein, both of whom scored two points on Tuesday, Latron Moorer and Daytron Moorer.
Christian Academy lost in the semifinals last year, so it isn’t satisfied with just getting back to the semifinals.
“One of our goals early on, and we're a super young team, was to get back and advance to the state championship,” said Busby, who started just one senior in Green. “The senior-led team we had last year, we were disappointed that we lost in the semifinals.”
Greenwood Christian 72
Hilton Head Christian 66
Greenwood Christian jumped out to a 20-10 lead after one quarter, led by 15 at halftime and 10 after three quarters. The Hawks held off a late charge by Hilton Head Christian, the defending state runner-up, to advance to the semifinals.
“The guys did a phenomenal job early,” said first-year GCS head coach Jonathan Davis, whose team improved to 21-6 on the season. “Honestly coming out and hitting some big shots early and missing only two free throws was huge for us.”
The Hawks led 35-20 at halftime before HHCA cut the deficit to 54-44 entering the fourth quarter. That’s when Hilton Hea Christian, which finished 11-15 made its big push.
The Eagles pulled within 62-61 on a 3-point play by sophomore Harrison Skinner, who led all scorers with 29 points, with 1:30 remaining in the game. Senior Lee Dahlberg, who led Greenwood with 23 points, hit two free throws to make it 64-61 with 1:25 left.
Hilton Head Christian had good looks on three 3-point attempts but couldn’t get any of them to fall. GCS senior Ty Kennedy got loose for a layup to make it 66-61 with 41 seconds left. The Hawks pushed the lead to nine before HHCA scored some late points.
Kennedy added 21 points for GCS, while Isaiah Scott-Palacios had 14 and Leland Reed had nine.
Senior Elijah White added 15 for the Eagles, while senior Dylan Sampson and freshman Ethan Foster both had seven points.
Davis said the turnaround Greenwood Christian has made has been tremendous.
“This was a sub-.500 team a year ago and two years ago it was getting beat by 60 points,” he said. “I knew we had three or four guards who could really play. If you have that you’re always going to have a chance to win. Once we got them to buy in defensively we’ve been really good.”
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