By WORTHY EVANS HSSR Contributing Writer Columbia - Hammond School' s boys and girls basketball teams saw their season come to an end in the SCISA 4A basketball tournament Feb. 19-24. The Hammond boys beat Ben Lippen 59-55 in the opener at the Sumter Civic Center Feb. 19, but on Feb. 21 Cardinal Newman rallied past the Skyhawks (14-9) 51-43. The Cardinals eventually beat Augusta Christian 71-61 Feb. 23 for their 10th state championship and first in Class 4A. Hammond had a 6-point lead on Cardinal Newman late in the third quarter, but Cardinal Newman outscored the Skyhawks 25-11 from there to the final buzzer. The Skyhawks led 15-11 after the first quarter, but Cardinal Newman took the lead by the end of the second quarter—before Mike Tyler’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Hammond a 26-24 lead at intermission. The Skyhawks held a 32-26 lead by the 3:11 mark of the third quarter. Cardinal Newman freshman Luis Echevarria came off the bench and sank three 3-pointers to close out the third, and drained a fourth 3 early in the fourth quarter to put the Cardinals ahead for good. Juniors Mike Tyler and Jaiden Haltiwanger had 10 points apiece to lead Hammond, which loses no players to graduation this year. The team roster includes seven juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen. Like the boys, the Hammond girls (15-6) reached the second round of the tournament, with a 62-44 win over Augusta Christian Feb. 19. And like the boys, the Skyhawks found an exit Feb. 21, with a 57-41 loss to Northwood Academy . Unlike the boys, the Hammond girls fell behind from the start as Northwood led the game wire-to-wire. “You gotta put the ball in the hole. We struggled with that today,” Hammond head coach Roshan Myers told the Columbia Star. “We had a lot of turnovers, a lot of forced turnovers, and we didn’t convert on the easy baskets and we missed quite a few free throws, so we were never really able to catch any momentum. Northwood, give them credit, they came out with a great defensive scheme and executed well.” Northwood (26-3) went on to battle Heathwood Hall for the 4A state championship Feb. 23. The Highlanders bested the Chargers 58-56 for their second straight state title. Senior Samira Khalil scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Skyhawks. Senior Anna Katherine Adams added 10. Khalil and Adams are two of the team’s five seniors that include Rebecca Waites, Kayce Hyman , and Lauren Vincent .  “Those five girls have been great contributors to the team, so you know it’s going to be tough moving on without them,” Myers said. “They’re all going to go on. KC will play in college, Samirra will play in college, and the other ladies will go to college and have fun and be professionals. For the most part it’s bittersweet. When you lose some of your kids and you’ve known them for so long, you watch them grow up. Rebecca and AK have been here since the sixth grade, so I’ve seen them develop from middle school all the way up to seniors in high school.”

Highlanders will face Northwood again for SCISA AAAA steate championship

Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR Photos from the SCISA Basketball Tournament, from the Cardinal Newman vs Hammond boys in their elimination basketball game on Wednesday. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos.

Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR Photos from the SCISA Basketball Tournament, from the Northwoods Academy vs Hammond girls in their elimination basketball game on Wednesday. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos.

ACS beats Heathwood Hall 69-39, Cardinal Newman edges Hammond 51-43

By WORTHY EVANS Special to HSSR Columbia - With four games left in the regular season, the Hammond boys basketball team (10-6, 3-2) is looking to finish as strongly as possible. The Skyhawks stand at third in SCISA Region 1-4A behind Cardinal Newman and Augusta Christian after Friday night’s 64-50 win over Ben Lippen . They took on Laurence Manning Academy Tuesday, Jan. 30, and have two tough road games, at Augusta Christian Friday and at Cardinal Newman Tuesday, Feb. 6. Hammond closes out the season with a home game against Heathwood Hall . Against Ben Lippen, freshman Jackson Ross scored 15 points, junior Mike Tyler added 14, and junior Jaiden Haltiwanger put up 10. The Falcons’ Braysen Stockman scored 37 points but the Hammond defense limited other Ben Lippen scorers to 13 points. With no seniors on the team, the Skyhawks are led by Haltiwanger, who averages 23.0 points per game. Ross and sophomore Daylin Haltiwanger both average 14.0 points. Tyler averages 12. In Hammond’s 49-36 win over Heathwood Hall Jan. 16, Ross scored 14 points and Haltiwanger added 13 points to lead the Skyhawks. “Those two guys are pretty good basketball players.” Hammond head coach David Ross told the Columbia Star after the Highlanders game. “Jaiden has held down the fort while Jackson has been hurt for several weeks, but now he’s back and he’s been slowly getting integrated to the way the rest of the team is playing. This is probably his best performance so far, but we’re best when we’ve got five guys who are hard to guard, not just two.” Since Skyhawks game the Skyhawks suffered region losses to the Cardinals Jan. 18 and to the Lions Jan. 23. The Hammond girls (11-4, 2-1) are second in the region standings behind Heathwood Hall . Samira Khalil leads the Skyhawks with a 20.2 points per game average. Kayce Hyman averages 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. The Hammond wrestling team fell 42-34 to Cardinal Newman Jan 24, but earned a No.2 seed going into the SCISA state duals tournament this week. The Cardinals, who were a second seed last year and lost to state champion Ben Lippen , earned the top seed in the tournament with the win over Hammond. Hammond’s Kirby Johns got a pin at the 215 weight class, Angesom Ladd won an 8-2 decision at the 120 class, Jaden Kine goat a decision at the 132 class, Blaze Barnes won the 138 class, Luke Martin got a pin at 144, Cobin Rabon got a pin at 150, and James Lay got a pin at 175 for the Skyhawks. Hammond wrestling wrapped up the regular season Friday Jan. 26 defeating American Leadership Academy 54-18, and falling 39-35 to Dutch Fork . The Skyhawks take the mats in the SCISA state playoffs Wednesday at home.

By WORTHY EVANS For a school that has won 21 football state championships and has won seven straight state championships, Hammond could be considered a dominant force in SCISA football. Yet, head coach Jon Wheeler , who has coached in the last three state championship wins, says that what the Skyhawks do is nothing special. It’s just a dedication to excellence, and keeping cool under adversity. Nowhere was that more evident than at the SCISA 4A state championship game at Charleston Southern’s Buccaneers Field Nov. 17. Laurence Manning Academy scored the first two touchdowns of the game, and it appeared that the Swampcats were well on their way to snapping Hammond’s streak of crowns. Until, that is, Hammond stopped digging its hole and refocused its handle on the game. “Just stay even keel. If you’re up 14, down 14, it’s a long ballgame,” Wheeler said to his team in the midst of a 14-0 deficit in the first half. “They’ve got quick-strike guys over there, so try to stay even keel, be in the moment, because it’s going to pass by really quick. Play without any regrets, just try to stay even keel. Even when we start making a comeback, stay even keel.” Before halftime, Hammond got on the scoreboard with Manny Johnson’s 19-yard touchdown run. Later in the third quarter the Skyhawks evened the score at 14 with a 74-yard Johnson dash, and on the first play of the fourth quarter went up 20-14 with Andrew Turner’s 6-yard TD run. The Swampcats scored to make it 21-20, but Turner’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Mike Tyler put Hammond in the lead for good. Wheeler had plenty of praise for Laurence Manning, whom his team faced in the 2022 championship game as well. “Tip your hat to Laurence Manning, well coached, really good football players over there, and you can see they had a chance to win,” he said. “It could’ve gone either way.” With that said, Wheeler did not leave much to chance. He knew the Skyhawks put in the work year in and year out of staying at the forefront of SCISA football, and Wheeler said he had a good feeling about the matchup. “No offense to Laurence Manning, I just said, hey guys, we’re going to win this ballgame,” he told the team before the game. “We’re going to come out here, we’re going to execute, we’re not going to point fingers.” The victory closes out a season that was similar to the Skyhawks’ 2022 effort. That year they suffered early road losses at Prince Avenue Christian (Athens, Ga.) and at then-defending SCHSL 5A champion Gaffney . This fall Hammond hosted Prince Avenue Christian and fell 42-13, and hosted SCHSL 2A power Gray Collegiate and lost 52-14. In both seasons, the Skyhawks won out the rest of the season and took home state titles. This year the Skyhawks played pivotal games against Cardinal Newman . In their Oct. 6 regular season matchup, Hammond beat then-undefeated Cardinals 35-20. On Nov. 10, the Skyhawks took on Cardinal Newman again, this time to play for the right to move on to the state title game. Hammond won 33-20. “They’ve been battle tested,” Wheeler said about the team this season. “They faced Prince Avenue early on. They got hit in the mouth by Gray Collegiate, both on our home field. They were humbled, and getting humbled allowed them to create some hunger to get better. They faced it, they didn’t run from adversity and they got better each week. That’s why they were able to get to this point because they got better and learned from their mistakes.” With three of his teams now crowned state champions, Wheeler himself is becoming a part of the program that was strong long before he came there. “It feels awesome just to be a part of it,” Wheeler said. “All the credit goes to our players and the culture that was set way before I got here with Coach (Erik) Kimrey, Coach (AD Jeff) Barnes. I’m very glad to be a part of it and learn from it, to get better as a coach and a person.”

Turner throws 32-yard touchdown pass to Tyler for winning score

Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR Photos from the SCISA Football State Championship Class AAAA game between Hammond and Laurence Manning on 11-17 at Charleston Southern University. In a highly competitive game, the Skyhawks outlast the Swampcats to take a 4th quarter lead and defeat Laurence Manning 28-21 for Hammond's 7th consecutive SCISA title. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos.