Denmark-Olar defeats Abbeville 58-52 to win Class A boys basketball state title
Vikings claim first championship in program history in head coach Hercules Davis' final game
Florence – The Denmark-Olar High School boys basketball team first found out that its head coach, Hercules Davis, was planning to retire on the school’s Senior Night toward the end of the regular season. That was a pretty big deal consisering nine of the 13 players on the roster are seniors.
“When we found out it was Coach Davis’ last year, we made a promise we were going to give him a ring,” said 6-foot-5-inch senior forward Joshua Goodman.
"It surprised us and we told him we were going to win the state championship for him, and we did that just now,” said fellow senior Tykeem Ross.
Indeed the Vikings did. They overcame a slow start to take a double-digit lead in the third quarter and held on down the stretch for a 58-52 win over Abbeville for the Class A boys state title on Thursday at Florence Center.
Not only did D-O bring home the championship trophy in Davis’ last game, but it was the first boys basketball state title ever for Denmark-Olar.
“These young men wanted this game so bad,” said Davis, who has been a head coach for 26 years. “From Day 1 of practice this is what they were working toward. It’s been 35 years since Denmark-Olar has played in this game.
“I’m so proud of these guys. They put it all together. Their friends. They grew up together. They put it all together tonight and we came out with a victory.”
And it was five of those nine seniors who played the entire game. Along with Goodman and Ross, fellow forward Robert Bovain and guards Terremce Hinton and Christian Nimmons each logged 32 minutes.
“We have to thank our coaches for us to be able to do that,” said Goodman, who scored a game 28 points to go with nine rebounds after coming into the game with a double-double of 18.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.. “It’s all in the way they make us practice.”
Abbeville controlled the momentum early, but never was able to be dominant. After Denmark-Olar scored the game’s first basket, the Panthers scored the next nine points. However, the Vikings scored the next nine points to .regain the lead early in the second quarter.
There was some back and forth before Jamearion Williams hit a 3-point basket and Justin Rollinson convertyed a 3-point play for AHS to give it a 20-16 lead with 3:29 left in the first half.
D-O responded with Bovain getting a tip-in and hitting a free throw before Goodman drained one of his three 3s to make it 22-20 with 1:26 left. Bovain got another tip-in, getting fouled in the process to convert another 3-point playr to make the halftime scoire 25-20.
Abbeville, which finished with a 23-3 record as the Upper State champion, trailed just 31-28 three minutes into the third quarter. Goodman, who connected on 12 of 15 shots including 3 of 4 from 3-point land, sank another trifecta to start a 13-2 run. The run ended with consectuvie baskets from Ross to make it 44-30 with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Abbeville didn’t go away easily though. It actually got within six points before going into the final stanza trailing 46-38.
Baskets from Jayden Baylor and Williams pulled the Panthers within 46-42 with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter. They then missed out on several opportunities to cut into the deficit before a tip-in by Goodman with 4:21 remaining made it 50-42.
The Panthers got within four on several other occasions, the final time coming at 56-52 with 1:40 left on a layup by Altavious Patterson. AHS used full-court pressure to force three straight turnovers, but couldn’t convert any of them into points.
Nimmons hit a layup with 57 seconds left for the final points of the game and make it a 2-possession game. Abbeville was unable to convert again.
I just had to tell my kids to slow down,” Davis said. “We’re going to make mistakes. You’ve just got to play through it, and that’s what they did.”
The 6-4 Ross finished with a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds, while the 6-3 Bovain had eight points an seven rebounds. The Vikings outrebounded Abbeville 39-27 with 15 of them being offensive boards.
“That was the game plan coming in,” Goodman said. “We knew if we crashed the boards we had a really good chance to win the game.”
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Hinton finished with six points and six assists while Nimmons had four points.
Jayden Baylor led Abbeville in scoring with 15 points, including connecting on 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Williams finished with 14 points, while Rollinson had nine. Patterson finished with six, Jaylen Baylor had three points and a team high six rebounds and Darius Riley had three points and a team high four assists. Thomas Ferguson had two points.
Ross was not only happy to win a championship for Davis and his fellow seniors, which also included Carlos Johnson, Reginald Youmans, Se'Quavin Pough and Jordan Howell, but he was happy to bring the trophy home to the communities in the school’s name.
“The whoe community came to support us,” said Ross, who laughed when it was suggested that everyone from not only Denmark but Olar as well made the trip. "If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know man. We put on a show and we won state.
"It means so much, knowing we did something for the community and the community is going to be proud.”
As for Davis, this is the cherry on top of his career and means he won’t be lured back to the bench -- or so he says.
“No more coaching for me, no more coaching. I’m going to watch my son play at South Carolina,” said Davis, whose son Zachary Davis is a sophomore with the Gamecocks.
