By WORTHY EVANS
Special to HSSR
Columbia - With Region 4-2A teams continuing to forfeit games scheduled with Gray Collegiate Academy, the War Eagles girls and boys basketball teams have had to do what the football team did—schedule a range of teams to keep the teams sharp.
Boys head coach Dion Bethea didn’t mind being blunt about the alternate to playing non-region opponents.
“Better competition,” Bethea, whose boys team have won five state championships including the years 2022 and 2023. “We made up our (non-region) schedule last summer, a wish list of teams we’d like to play. We didn’t put a lot of thought into it. We had to do what was best for our kids.”
Bethea added, “We didn’t have to call anyone. We never had to look. People were hitting us up wanting to play. It was teams that wanted to play good games.”
The thought of region schools forfeiting games against Gray Collegiate arose before the football season began, and based on the notion that Gray Collegiate’s ability to recruit players outside of their zone gave the school an unfair competitive advantage.
The forfeiture applies to all athletic activities in the 2023-2024 school year. The Gray boys are 21-5, a record that includes six forfeits thus far.
“They’ve been playing well, we have another great group,” Bethea said. “One of our hashtags for this year was #stillunderconstruction. This is the first year we don’t have a true point guard. It’s by committee, and all the players took up that challenge and we’ve had a lot of success with it.”
This year’s team includes Senior Braylin Thomas, who averages 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2 assists per game. Junior Trey Maddox averages 10.3 points and Senior Ellis Graham averages 5.1 rebounds.
Those players have the highest profile on the court, but Bethea notes that junior small forward L.J. Britt makes the team a cohesive unit on the court. Britt averages 8.2 points and 3.7 assists per game.
“Our two top scorers have performed well, but you can’t talk about their successes without L.J. Britt,” Bethea said. “He’s the glue holding everything together. It took a while for us to get all three on the same page, but now they’re clicking, and statistically from a defensive standpoint, we’re the best team in the state, but now we’re working hard on the offense.”
The War Eagles are doing so using that better competition.
They came out of winter break to beat 5A Chapin 80-63 Jan. 5, Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) 58-50 Jan. 6, and Rock Hill’s Legion Collegiate Academy twice, first a 68-34 win Jan. 11 and then a 92-49 win Jan. 23. The Gray boys played Atlanta Hebron Saturday in the Longhorns Classic in Atlanta.
“The talent level there is extraordinary every year,” Bethea said. “It’s just a great opportunity to get their eyes on a lot of types of play, and with a shot clock. I love our schedule. It’s a great way to see a lot of styles of basketball and it’s only going to help us going into the playoffs.”
The girls, who won their first state championship last year, are 14-7 with six wins that are forfeits. They played the same teams as the boys except for 4A North Augusta, a game that they lost 34-25 Jan. 13.
Junior Kadence Walker-Lee leads the team with 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Senior Jordan Mintz averages 8.6 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. Junior Karlee Phelps averages 7.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
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